Scarlet Wind
by The Uncreative
Summary: "I woke up in an unfamiliar room and all I could do was wonder why I was still alive."
1. Chapter 1: Why Am I Not Dead?

**Author Notes:**

Heh, I had fun writing this. I don't really know what else to say about it. Guess I'll start with intros. Hello, I'm The Uncreative and this is my first crack at a Madoka Magica story. Sssssssort of. There was the Familiar of Zero crossover one-shot but this one isn't a crossover. The idea for this story came sometime after that one. I like Madoka Magica, it's probably my favorite anime ever, so I started tossing around ideas for a story set in the universe because I really wanted to write something for it.

What we got was a magical girl with amnesia.

Wait! Don't leave yet, there's more to the story! I acknowledge that amnesia isn't the most original idea out there. I also acknowledge that my pen name up there pretty accurately sums me up, so I don't know what you, me, or anyone expected. Obviously there's going to be far more going on then her simply trying to find out who she really is. Hell, there's like three different characters that we haven't even gotten around to introducing yet. We're going places beyond just memory loss, you have to trust me on that one.

But let's not discuss people and plot points that haven't shown up yet, maybe a brief word on the two we are familiar with. First up is Scarlet and yes, her appearance (and name, sort of) is totally based on Flandre Scarlet from Touhou. Not so much her personality, but her appearance is very much taken from there. The vampiric biting of the neck that happened this chapter was just sort of thrown in as a result. I thought it sounded cool. Of course it wound up being slightly more zombie cannibal instead of graceful vampire but we all start off from somewhere. As for Ui Inugami... I don't know. I got the name "Ui" from K-On, of all things, and her magical girl outfit just sort of happened. I dunno. Both character's wish and magical ability will come later, so we'll talk about them then.

Oh, and I'm not apologizing for the giant block of text that's just one word repeated over and over. You should be able to figure out what inspired that little moment.

I'm sure there's more that I could say, but I think I've delayed the show long enough. Please enjoy the story!

**Chapter 1: "Why Am I Not Dead?"**

I was woken up by a few rays of sunshine shining through the cracks in the not entirely drawn curtains. I slowly sat up, rubbed my eyes and looked around, examining the room in detail.

"W..."

My throat is dry and I'm having trouble speaking.

"Why am I not dead?"

... What? Why am I asking that? Did something happen or... I get out of the bed on shaky legs. I nearly fall over, but catch on to a drawer before I fall to the ground. I raise my head slightly and make eye contact with someone. Looks like a girl. Short, messy blonde hair, violently red eyes, young looking. I wait a few seconds for the other person to say something, but they just keep silent and stare at me. I reach out for them, and they do the same. My hand is stopped by the glass of the mirror. That's my reflection? I don't know her... No, that's me. So then...

"My name..."

I let the thought die on my tongue. Name. I have one, I have to.

"My name is... I don't know. I don't know. Why don't I know? Who am I? What's happening?!"

I start becoming more hysterical. What is this room? Who put me here? Who am I, why am I here? Why am I even alive? Think, think...

My panic is interrupted by a knock on the door. Who's that?

"Sweet pea, are you still asleep?" Sounds female, kind of old. Mid thirties. "Come on, rise and shine, breakfast is ready."

I don't know who that is. I don't know where this is. I have to get out of here. I... Do I? This could be a good place for me but...

The doorknob turns, the door opens and I make my decision. I rush for the door, blowing right by the other person. They get knocked to the side and right into the wall. I don't slow down and keep running. It looks like the room I was in was at the end of the hall so there's only one place for me to run. I sprint in that direction and find myself in a large foyer. ... Nice house. Focus, I have to get out of here. I spot a large set of double doors. The front door? I don't take any time to think about it and sprint right for it. I charge through it shoulder first and burst them open. I don't slow down for a second and just keep sprinting.

I don't know where I was sprinting or what I planned to do next. I don't know who I am, where I am, what I am. Huh? What I am? Why is that a question? I stumble briefly and put a hand to my head. A sudden pain makes me feel like my head is being split in half. My sprint slows to a crawl. Why is my head pounding? I can't even think, the pain renders me practically motionless.

"My... Head... Hurts..."

It also rendered me perfectly eloquent, that's good to note. I stumble forward a bit and place my hand against a building to catch my breath. As I stand there resting the headache starts to subside. ... That's a lie, it actually started getting worse. My head feels like it's going to explode. I notice a small light out of the corner of my eye and look. Looks like I'm resting at some kind of electronics shop. There's lots of TVs on display in the window. Since I'm not going anywhere, I decide to take advantage of the window and look at myself.

I don't learn much new information. Still a girl, still young looking (how old am I anyway? I look like I'm twelve or something), blonde hair and red eyes. I'm not dressed well for travel it seems. I'm wearing some kind of silk nightdress or something and that's it. Not even any shoes, I ran this entire way barefoot. Now my feet hurt as well as my head. It's good to see my situation has improved, if only slightly. Two things caught my eye. One was my necklace. It was simple, but kind of ornate. Kind of fancy now that I look at it. Second was the ring on my left hand. Does that mean anything? I don't... I don't know.

... No, none of that's right. That's not right at all.

I close my eyes, shake my head and look at my reflection again. Red. Lots of red. I'm wearing a red dress with short black sleeves and a short, black skirt that stopped mid thigh. I had a small hat on and my hair was tied in a ponytail on the left side of my head. I even had white boots with some red accents on. Two things caught my attention. First was the necklace, it was still there. That's good.

Second, was the wings.

"What the heck?"

I mean, they weren't wings in the technical sense, they looked more like branches growing out of my back. Each wing had a set of four crystals hanging off of them. One red, one blue, one green, one yellow. I feel like they should be pretty heavy but they might as well not be there at all. That might be why I didn't notice them.

No, that's still not right. I'm not suppose to be h...

My headache flares back up. Okay, no more thinking. Have to keep moving. Keep... Just start walking.

I start slinking down the sidewalk. The entire time my vision starts to tint itself red. It hurts to move, it hurts to breathe, it hurts to do anything. I want to just curl up on the floor and die. I want everything to just stop.

Eh? Did I just hear something? I think so. I try to shut out the pain and head towards the noise I just heard. I start walking and come across an old decrepit alleyway. I look down it and see a young girl, older then me by a year or two probably, with her back to the wall and two men in front of her. What's going on? Are they talking? What would they need to be in an alleyway to talk about?

"Wait," the girl says. "Are you two robbing me?"

"It took you that long to figure it out?!" One guy says. "Whatever, just give us whatever you have."

The girl giggles.

"That's cute, thinking you can give me orders like that."

"We're not the ones with our backs to the wall," the other guy says.

"I mean, not yet," the girl says. "Trust me, you really don't want to do this. It wouldn't end well for you."

"Cocky little girl, aren't you?" One guy says.

"What the heck is going on here?"

The three people in the alleyway turn their heads and see me, a girl with a horrible headache who can barely walk or see straight with no idea who she is or what she's doing. What am I doing? I don't know this girl. Not at the moment anyway. Even if I did know her before I might as well not so what am I doing trying to help her out?

"... Cute outfit," the girl says, sizing me up.

"Who's this cosplay chick supposed to be?" The other guy asks.

"Move along girly, nothing to see here," the one guy says. "If you leave now we'll even pretend you were never here."

"No," I tell them. My headache is throbbing even worse then before so that's all I can get out. A sudden burst of pain forces me to lean against the wall for support. This makes the two thugs start laughing.

"So you can barely stand and you think you're in any place to confront us?" Thug 2 asks.

"Careful, she could mess you up," the girls says.

"What, you know her?" Thug 1 asks her.

"No, I can just tell that she's like me," the girl says. "That is, either of us could take you two in a fight no matter our condition. We're kind of badass that way, you know?"

"Shut up already," Thug 2 says, pulling a small handgun out of his jacket and pointing it at the girls head. "Stay right there as my friend takes care of yours."

I want to reply that I'm not her friend, but I'm using everything I have just to stay awake. Thug number one breaks off of the group and starts walking towards me. He stops just in front of me and smiles.

"So what are you going to do?" He asks. "If you wanted us to stop what we were doing, what were you going to do?"

"D... Don't know," I tell him. "Figure something out."

"Oh. Is that so?" He asks. He kicks me in the stomach and I go down. The blow didn't hurt, I think, but I feel ready to collapse at any moment, regardless of anyone else's actions at this point. His faces adopts an ugly sneer as he grabs my wrist and pulls me up. "All out of energy? Nothing left to say or do? Then why'd you even come here if you couldn't do anything?"

I spit in his face.

"I don't quite know myself, but that was the highlight of my day so I think it was worth it," I tell him.

Thug 1 did not like that very much, as I'm sure you can imagine. He backhands me right across the face with his free hand, knees me in the stomach, then punches me square in the nose. I don't say or do anything in response.

"Oh, you a big girl now?" He asks. "Pain doesn't mean anything to you now, does it?"

... I think I should react. Or show some kind of emotion. ... Nope, can't find it in me to care whatsoever. I'm far too mentally compromised for the pain to register.

"She's just trying to piss you off, don't let it get to you," Thug 2 says. "That outfit's pretty fancy, so she's bound to have something worthwhile on her. Just take it and let's get out of here."

"Right," the first thug growls. Still holding me by my wrist he starts patting me down with his free hand, looking for anything worthwhile. He stops when he notices something.

"Well, well," he says. "Fancy necklace. Boyfriend give it to you?"

I don't... I don't know. I don't know, but I don't want him to have it. I don't want anyone to have it, it's mineminemineminemine. He reaches for the necklace and grabs it.

"I'll be tak-"

"D..."

"D?"

I grab his wrist with my free arm and squeeze.

"DON'T YOU DARE TOUCH IT WITH YOUR FILTHY HANDS!"

I apply pressure until there's a sick popping sound and blood sprays everywhere. He screams in pain and lets go of me, taking a few steps back. He looks at his arm, then down on the ground where his now severed hand rests.

"Oh, you're so boned right now," the girl says.

Thug 1 pulls out a small knife with his remaining hand and drives it into my gut. I take a step back and glare directly at him as I pull the knife out and toss it aside. I raise my hand and find myself suddenly holding a large spear. It was completely black from point to end and easily a few feet taller then I was. I throw it and the spear pierces his left thigh then continues until it buries itself into the ground with the thug screaming in pain the entire time. I start walking towards the now immobile thug.

"Wa-wait, we can work something out!" Thug 1 begs as he struggles with the spear that's keeping him from moving. "I can get you anything you'd like! Anything!"

"How useless," I mutter. I step forward, right in front of the man. I put one hand on his shoulder and the other on his head. I tilt his head to the side and dig in, biting into the man's neck. He starts screaming in fear and begging me to stop but I ignore him and continue my feast.

"W... What the fuck?" Thug 2 asks in disbelief and fear.

"Holy shit," the girl says, also in complete shock.

My feast continues for another few seconds before I pull myself away from the thug. His body is limp and falls over quite readily. I remove my spear from his leg which allows him to fully hit the floor. I let go and the spear vanishes into thin air. I lick my lips and taste blood. I turn towards the last thug and the girl. The thug points his gun at me.

"Don't move!" He says, his hands shaking. "I'll shoot you, you crazy bitch! I will!"

I start walking towards him. He doesn't fire. I walk closer and closer and he still doesn't fire. What's that matter? Too scared to even try and defend yourself? What a useless prey.

"Wh-why aren't you dead damn it!" He screams. "I've emptied the entire goddamn clip into you, stay down you monster!"

"You haven't fired a single bullet!" the girl points out.

"I've shot her at least seven times, what the hell is wrong with you?!" He exclaims in a frenzy.

Finally he pulls the trigger. There's a loud bang as the bullet flies towards me and hits me square in the forehead. I take a single step back... Only to step forward once again. Blood is running down my head from the bullet so I lick off what comes near my mouth and smile.

"You really thought that would work?" I ask him. "You hadn't already figured out that anything you do is completely useless?"

He unloads once again. One bullet hits my shoulder, one my stomach, one in my leg. I keep smiling and walking forward.

"Useless, useless, useless!"

I run forward and grab him by the throat. He points the gun right up against my temple and pulls the trigger three times. I smack the gun away, sending it skittering down the alleyway.

"Useless!" I taunt him.

I spin around and slam him into the nearby wall hard enough that he leaves an indentation. I take a second to look him in the eye and I see fear. I smile, let go and punch him in the face, then in the stomach. I punch him again and again, each blow coming in quicker and harder.

"USELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESS!"

I finally start slowing down and look at the remains. It's hard to imagine that this chunk of meat used to be human. It's been beaten to hell and back and is completely unrecognizable. His face has been caved in, his ribs are piercing his lungs and heart, his stomach and intestines are liquified. The brutalized mass of flesh slowly slides towards the ground where it finds it's final resting spot.

"You... You killed them," the girl observes. "You didn't have to kill them. I wasn't going to kill them, just rough them up a bit, scare them off. You totally..."

The rush of... Adrenaline? Something, but whatever it was it finally wears off and I see just what it is I did. Oh... Oh god... I look at the mass of flesh leaning against the wall, then towards the man lying in the alleyway with the pierced thigh and chunk of flesh bitten out of his neck. I... I did that. I just killed these two people and I... I feel sick.

I fall to my knees and start vomiting. I expel all the contents of my stomach. Seeing all the blood and partly digested flesh floating among the bile simply makes me vomit even more.

"W-whoa!" The girls rushes over and kneels right next to me. She puts a hand on my shoulder and tries to comfort me. "Hey, you okay?"

"I killed two people I never knew, nearly resorting to cannibalism for one," I tell her. "I don't know what came over me. What the hell is wrong with me?"

"Oh, that wasn't intentional?" She asks. "Whew! That makes me feel better. I thought you were a complete psycho! What with the smirking, and the vampirism and violence and all that. Good to know it was just an out-of-character moment. Guess I'll make a note not to piss you off."

"I just killed two people!" I exclaim. "Emote a little more!"

"It was horrifying, Not going to argue that," the girl says, "but they were kind of assholes anyway. I was more worried that you were waaaay worse then them. Out of the frying pan and into the fire and all that. Besides, it's not like it's the first time I've seen anyone die. Here, need any help getting up?"

I shake my head and stand up, only to stumble and fall. The girl catches me and allows me to lean on her shoulder. I use this moment of personal invasion to actually look at her. She was about a year older then me, like I said earlier. She had shoulder-length brown hair and matching eyes. Her hair actually stood up in two places, making it look like she had dog ears or something. She wasn't wearing anything fancy, just normal run of the mill clothes. Skirt, shirt, unzipped jacket. I'd call her cute, I think she's deserving of that.

"Come on, I'll help you out a bit," she says. "Let's just get out of here."

"What about those two?" I ask.

"Ah, Tweedle Dead and Tweedle Deceased will be fine without us," she says, dismissing the corpses. "Besides, it's best we get away from the crime scene right away. I don't want to be questioned for a double murder. Before we head out though, looks like your healed up mostly so that's good, so why don't you go ahead and detransform?"

"De-what now?"

"You're a magical girl, right?" She asks. "Just detransform so you don't stick out like a sore thumb."

"The heck's a magical girl?" I ask.

"Don't ask me!" She exclaims. "You're clearly one! There's your outfit, your inhuman strength, I can even sense your soul gem and everything!"

"Who's Sol Jim?" I ask. "Friend of yours?"

The girl's eye twitches in anger. Sorry, I'm not exactly privy to a lot of things that I really should be.

"Oh, whatever," she says. "Just calm down and think zen like thoughts. Think you can handle that?"

I remain skeptical, but try calming down. I close my eyes, take a few deeps breaths and focus on calming thoughts like... Calm... Things. I don't know what calms me down. Let's just breathe. Eventually I think it works because a breeze flows by and I feel every bit of it. I open my eyes, look down and see that I'm just wearing the nightdress again.

"In a hurry?" The girl asks with a smile. "Just couldn't wait to go out and save the day so you forget to make yourself decent?"

I start thinking as she starts leading me out of the alleyway and up the street. Well, I think the room I woke up in might have had some spare clothes, but I was too busy freaking out to even think of trying them on.

"Ah! Holy shit!"

"What now?" I ask.

"That huge ass scar, that's what!" She exclaims. "It's huge and runs right down your back. How'd you get that? Magical girls can heal so it shouldn't leave a scar I'd imagine."

I try my best to look over over my shoulder and at my back. Predictably, I fail. Guess I'll take her word for it and check it out in a mirror or something later.

"I'll let you know how I got it when I can figure out anything else about myself, sound good?"

"Eh? You don't know?" She asks. "Amnesia or something?"

"Is that what it's called when you suddenly forget who you are, why you're where you and and basically can't remember anything?"

She nods.

"Yeah, that's me then."

"Damn," she says. "I'm sorry to hear that. That explains a bit. Um... Oh! I haven't given you my name! I'm Ui Inugami. Pleasure to meet you... Huh. Right, you don't have a name. ... Got it! I'll call you Scarlet!"

"Why Scarlet?" I ask her.

"I mean, your eyes are scarlet red, your magical girl outfit is mostly red, there was a lot of red around when I met yo- er, forget that last one. It just sounds right, doesn't it?" Inugami asks.

"Not like I can turn it down at the moment," I tell her. "A pleasure to meet you Inugami. Please take care of me."

"Hey, you didn't forget your manners!" Inugami says with a bright smile. "Okay, so where do you want to go? Do you remember having anywhere to stay?"

"Well, I woke up in a pretty fancy house," I tell her. "It was comfy and well furnished. I didn't stick around though. I didn't know what was going on so I fled as soon as possible."

"It was empty I take it?" Inugami asks.

"No, someone actually came to see if I was awake yet," I tell her. "Older lady, I think. I didn't get a good look at her, I was too busy using the opportunity to run right by and escape. Shame, apparently breakfast was ready."

"W-wait. You wake up in an unfamiliar environment that's extremely comfortable and nice looking, some kind, old woman comes by to check on you and tell you breakfast is ready and your first instinct is to leave as quickly as possible?" Inugami asks.

"I didn't know if I was there against my will or not," I tell her. "It was instinct."

"You idiot! That was probably your house and the lady was your mom coming to wake you up!" Inugami yells at me.

"Is that so? Was that a possibility?" I ask.

"You stupid- forget it," she drops the topic. "Do you remember the direction you came from?"

"I think so," I say with a nod.

"Point the way, Scarlet."

With me giving directions me and Inugami eventually reach a big fancy house. I think I came from here. Looks fancy enough.

"... You're sure?" she asks as I get off of her and limp towards the door.

"I remember the direction," I tell her. "Might as well see."

Inugami steps forward and rings the doorbell, setting off a bunch of grand chimes. Fancy place. It takes a few seconds but eventually the door opens up and I see a panicked, blonde, older woman standing in the doorway.

"Sorry, I'm far too busy trying to find my kid how can I-"

The woman's eyes widen when she sees me. She drops to her knees and embraces me tightly.

"Sweet pea, where did you go?!" She asks. "I've been worried sick! Your father is out there looking for you right now. What happened? You just ran off! Is everything all right?"

"Everything's alright ma'am," Inugami says.

The woman... My mother, I guess, breaks off the embrace and looks at Inugami.

"Who might you be?" She asks, sounding slightly suspicious.

"My name is Ui Inugami. I found your daughter out in the city," Inugami explains. "From what I could gather from her, she's apparently suffering a horrible case of amnesia and can't remember anything, not even her own name."

"I can vouch for that," I say. "Inugami was nice enough to help me back here."

"Amnesia?" My mother plays with the word. "... Sweet pea, look at me. Do you really not recognize me?"

I look her directly in the eyes. I try to find something, some spark of recognition, but I can't get anything. The woman in front of me might as well be a stranger. I open my mouth, but my mother raises her hand.

"Don't say anything," she says. "I can already see it in your eyes. This is... Amnesia. Sweetie, go back up to your room. You remember which one it is, right? The one you burst out of this morning when you knocked me into the wall?"

"A-ah, right. Um... Sorry... About that," I tell her, suddenly finding an interest in my lack of shoes.

"It's alright, you didn't... You didn't know what you were doing," she says. "Just go up to your room and wait for your father to come home. I'll call him right now."

I nod and take a step forward before my mother stops me.

"Would you like to bring your friend with you?" She asks.

"E-eh? Me?" Inugami asks. "I'm flattered, truly, but... Why?"

"Considering my daughter's current... Condition, I'd like it if there was at least something she recognized with her. She's not likely to recognize any of her belongings or her father when he arrives. She knows you now though, so... Just keep her company, okay?"

"Um... I'm not sure if... Well, I don't think Scarlet would want me around any longer then I need to so-"

"Come along doggy," I say, grabbing her hand and pulling her inside.

"D-doggy?!"

I pull her through the house, eventually reaching the semi familiar hallway with the semi-familiar door at the end of it. I walk in and close the door behind me before going and sitting on... I guess it's my bed. Inugami slowly and stiffly walks over and sits next to me.

"U-um... I'm flattered that you think highly enough of me to bring me to your room but... Uh..."

"What's with that way of talking?" I ask. "I just had a few questions I didn't get a chance to ask you about."

"R-right," Inugami immediately slacks, apparently relieved from some unseen pressure. She stands up and walks to the middle of my room and turns to face me. She strikes a fancy pose that involves holding her hand in front of her face, fingers spread, palm facing her.

*clap clap clap*

"Don't clap!" She says. She gestures towards a ring sitting on one of her fingers. "The ring! The ring is what you wanted to ask about, right?"

"Why would I ask about the ring?"

"You have one too, don't you? It's your mark as a magical girl."

I look at my left hand and note the ring on my hand and how similar it is to hers. I put my right hand to my cheek and start at the ring.

"Ah, to be so young and already engaged," I say. "I'm sorry I forget about our marriage plans Ui."

"I-It's Inugami!" She yells at me. "And they're not engagement rings! Look."

With a hand flourish the ring disappears and suddenly she's holding a jewel egg of some sort in her hand.

"This is a soul gem. It's our mark as magical girls. It lets us transform, use magic and beat things up to save the world. Look."

There's a bright brownish light and suddenly Inugami is wearing a completely different outfit. Up top all she had was a single brown band wrapped around her chest which left her shoulders, arms and midriff horribly exposed. Down below was a bit more modest, a cute pair of pants and buckle shoes. She had some furry bracelets around her wrists and ankles, but that didn't hold my attention for very long. What got me was the shiny gem on top of her belly button. Some interesting fashion choices on display here.

"Understand?" Inugami asks. "Magical girl. Transformations, fancy outfits, magical powers, see what I'm talking about?"

"Not so much what you're talking about, but what I did was see some interesting stuff while you were between outfits."

Inugami immediately covers her chest with one hand and her lower parts with the other.

"I-it's not my fault the transformation works that way! Whatever. Look, you're a magical girl, right? That means you have a soul gem and everything. You already transformed, remember?"

Sort of. I remember the outfit I had and how modest it seems compared to Inugami's. I move my hand similar to what she did earlier and find a similar looking gem in my hand. Unlike Inugami's whose gem had brown glass, mine was completely clear, nothing in it. Neat.

"Then, what exactly is it?" I ask.

"Allow me to answer that question."

I look towards the new voice and see a rabbit/cat hybrid thing.

"Oh, good to see you Kyubey," Inugami says.

"And Kyubey is..." I trail off to let someone finish for me.

"I'm the one you make a contract with if you wish to become a magical girl," the thing says. "As such, I imagine you have quite a few questions for me right now."

I nod my head.

"Very well. Feel free to ask anything."

_"Who am I? What am I? What happened to my memory? What is this Magical Girl business and how am I involved in it? Why am I so protective of this necklace that I'm willing to kill people to keep it?"_ These and many other questions ate at my mind. I don't know if Inugami or Kyubey can help me answer any of these, but I figure these two are a better option then nothing. Thus was the beginning of my bizarre adventures as a magical girl.


	2. Chapter 2: I'm different, aren't I?

**Author Notes:**

So, a few things to talk about this chapter. Firstly, let me say that I'm hoping to get chapter of this up weekly. I can almost guarantee that probably won't happen, but it's nice to have a goal.

Second, Scarlet, I suppose. Yeah, the thing about her amnesia is that it's not really a problem. She can get all sorts of unimportant information from her parents. But the stuff that's important to the plot is much harder to get, and that's what matters. Maybe. I wouldn't give a character amnesia and then do nothing with it, that's just lazy writing. She has a reason for not having those memories, but that's for a later chapter. Regarding her character I'm sort of aiming for a sort of Homura style, stoic badass. In terms of just personality, this story is sort of like if Homura was the main character. … Of course Homura already was the main character (twice) and that resulted in the universe being rewritten (twice). Let's not aim for a similar ending.

Thirdly, Inugami. Her magic ability is turning into a large world. Wolves are cool, sue me. Originally her wolf fur was going to be brown, like her hair, but white wolves are cooler, so that's what I went with. She also mentioned her wish. Her wish isn't particularly pertinent to the plot, hence the casual revealing. There's also a lot more to it then just what she said, but that's, again, for a later date. Who would have guessed that someone with "Inu" in there name would have all sorts of canine themes running through her character.

Fourthly, Scarlet's parents. In terms of plot progression I suppose they may not end up contributing too much, but they are an important part of Scarlet's character. I mean, how can they not be, they're her freaking parents. Will they get that much more screen time? Most likely, yes. Will they be major players in the overarching plot? Most likely not.

Fifthly, Miku and Inko. The last two of this four girl magical squad. Inko is someone I'll talk about at length later, when her relevance really starts showing, so let's focus on Miku. My idea while writing her is that she's sort of like if Madoka tried acting like Kyoko. She's really shy and kind of awkward, but she's trying her best to come across as cool and badass. It's making her really fun to write. I love writing for characters whose thoughts and actions are completely contradictory. If you didn't quite catch it, her magic weapon is a magical six shot revolver that fires magic bullets and magically doesn't need to be reloaded. Like magic. We'll talk about her ability next chapter when she gets to show off.

Finally, the witch that showed up this chapter. Yatagrasu, the Raven Witch with a solitary nature. Based off of the mythological three-legged raven (or was it a crow), this was a fun fight to brainstorm for. … Too bad the fight itself sucked, but I had fun coming up with ideas. I liked the idea of an arena where there's only a few scattered pieces of land to stand on, and everything else is just open sky. If you're curious about any familiars she might have, they do exist, but since she was a young witch, her familiars didn't have time to hatch from their eggs before Scarlet and everyone killed her.

I think that about covers it all, and this set of notes ran for far too long. It's such a nice change of pace to actually have something to talk about. Hopefully we'll see you all next week.

**Chapter 2: "I'm different, aren't I?"**

"Ask your questions," Kyubey repeats.

"Inugami, where should I even start?" I ask.

"Don't ask me!" she exclaims. "Kyubey knows more about all of this magical girl business then I ever will."

"Right, that's a good place to start, thanks Inugami," I tell her before looking at the cat-rabbit thing. "Okay, from the beginning. What's a magical girl?"

"Magical girls are bringers of hope who-"

"Just give me the rundown, straight details please." I interrupt. "Metaphors aren't going to help me out with anything right now."

"Very well," Kyubey says. "Magical girls are girls who have contracted with me. In exchange for any wish they may have, they are given extraordinary abilities in order to combat the witches that populate the world."

"Witches…" I roll the word around a bit. Thinking about the word for too long hurts my head for some reason. I wonder why. "And witches are?"

"Witches are magical girls who have let their soul gem become too corrupted, either from using too much magic or from succumbing to despair," Kyubey explains. "Once the gem is completely corrupted it hatches and becomes a grief seed, from which a witch is born."

"Kyubey, what the hell?" Inugami says. "You were never this straight with me! I had to find it out the hard way!"

"You never asked," Kyubey retaliates.

"I totally did!" Inugami insists. "You went on about magical girls being warriors of hope and witches are bringers of despair and all that crap!"

"Next time you should ask them for the straight details," I tell her.

"Stay out of it!" she yells at me. "Ah, forget it. Doesn't matter now. Anyway, we have soul gems which house our souls in them, and if we screw up too many times then they become grief seeds which turn us into giant witches that kill people indiscriminately and mindlessly. Get it?"

"A far more concise explanation then I could have given," Kyubey says, scratching behind one of his ear-in-ears.

"So if our soul gets too dark then we becomes inhuman monsters," I sum up, looking at my soul gem. "Poetic."

"More or less," Inugami confirms.

"Of course it is possible to delay that particular fate," Kyubey informs me. "If you can locate a witch and defeat it, then there's a chance it will drop a grief seed which you can use to cleanse your soul gem, thus delaying the transformation into a witch."

"Only a chance?" I ask.

"Probably around, I dunno, ninety, ninety-five percent?" Inugami says. "I can't think of a time I haven't gotten one."

"It is incredibly likely, though not certain," Kyubey affirms. "Do be warned, if you aren't careful and use a grief seed too many times then it will hatch and become a witch again."

"Of course it does," I deadpan. "Can't keep things too easy, can we?"

"Any other questions about magical girls you may have?" Kyubey asks.

"So, the girl gets magical power from making a wish and 'contracting' with you, right?" I ask.

"Correct," Kyubey confirms.

"There's like, no side effects or anything, like memory loss?"

"The only time a wish results in memory loss is if it's a part of the wish itself, such as wishing to forget a particularly traumatic event," Kyubey explains. "The contract has no downsides or side effects."

"Except the witching out, losing your mind and becoming a complete monster," Inugami adds.

"Other then that no downsides," I agree. "Is there any other way the become a magical girl?"

"It's possible to wish for someone else to become a magical girl, or to wish for a magical girl to become human," Kyubey tells me. "It's almost never happened though, as there is no point in wasting a miracle on something so small."

"Right. So then that means that at some point I met you and made a wish, right?" I ask.

"I don't know."

"… Excuse me?" I ask.

"I don't recall ever making a contract with you," Kyubey says.

"W-wait, is that even possible?!" Inugami asks. "How can you just not know if you made someone a magical girl?! Isn't this your freaking job?!"

"Anomalous magical girls have become a rather common problem lately," Kyubey replies. "A magical girl in a nearby town called Morioh has been creating magical girls with the magic she received from her wish. Perhaps you've come from there?"

"I don't know, maybe," I say with a shrug. "I don't remember. Hence the questions."

"I wonder why," Kyubey says. "You seem perfectly healthy, no head trauma or illness that would create such an effect. How interesting."

"I feel like I'm under a microscope," I say.

"It does that sometimes," Inugami says.

"So there's no way of finding out what my wish was or what my magic can do, or what I was like before the amnesia hit?" I ask.

"None that I know of," Kyubey says. "Perhaps you could convince a friend of yours to contract and wish for your memories to return?"

"I have friends?" I ask, looking at Inugami.

"Don't ask me, I just met you!" she protests.

"Regardless, I should go," Kyubey says, heading for the window. "It's been nice talking with you two. Should you discover anything about your condition, feel free to call me. I'll be waiting."

And with that, the cat-rabbit hops out my window and disappears to who-knows-where. I groan and fall back onto my bed.

"Well that did absolutely nothing for me," I complain. "All I learned was that I'm apparently a mindless, bloodthirsty monster. As if I needed that thing to tell me that."

"To be fair, you're not a mindless, bloodthirsty monster yet," Inugami tries to comfort me. "That's a ways off. And you're taking this a bit better then I thought you would. When I first found out all this stuff, I was a nervous wreck for longer then I'd care to admit."

"Maybe it just hasn't sunk in yet and I'll wake up tomorrow crying because 'oh, the horror!' and all that. Or I'll wake up and not remember anything, that's a possibility," I reply.

"Hey, don't think like that," Inugami says. "Besides, it's not like you don't have an easy way to get caught up on things! Your parents are right there! You can just ask them anything you might want to know!"

"And just have it all float away like a leaf on the wind?" I ask. "I'll pass. Until I'm completely certain this memory loss thing isn't going to be a recurring problem I think I'll avoid important information. What's the point of getting it all back if I'm just going to toss it all out the window anyway? I don't see any reason to bother."

"That's a crap way of thinking," Inugami says. "You're seriously not going to ask your parents about anything? Like, not even your name?"

"I like Scarlet," I tell her. "It sounds nice. Though I suppose that doesn't much matter if my memory goes poof again. I don't have any better options though, so I might as well stick with it."

"Just get a diary," Inugami tells me. "Write down the important stuff like your name and other important background stuff and you'll be golden if you ever lose your memory again!"

"Look, I'll acknowledge there are plenty of ways to get around my current problem," I tell her. "The thing is, like you said, I can get all that stuff easily. The really important stuff takes too much work and I need to get on that immediately."

"What do you mean?"

"Like you said, anything I need to know about my personal history: my name, my background, I can get by asking Mom and Pop. What about my wish? What about why I became a magical girl? What about why exactly I lost my memory? It can be assumed I was fine yesterday, since I imagine my parents would know if I've been like this for a long period of time. Why did I just lose my memories overnight? Until I figure all that important stuff out, then I don't much care about small things like my real name, or that I had a pet dog named Max when I was four, or whatever."

"You had a dog?" Inugami asks.

"Heck if I know," I say with a shrug.

"Oh, it was just an example," Inugami notes. "So, where do you plan on starting?"

"I… don't… know," I tell her.

"You didn't think this through at all, did you?" Inugami asks.

"Not one bit. Haven't gotten a chance to yet. Kind of got a lot of things thrown at me at once."

"Right, right," Inugami says before putting a hand to her chin. "Okay, tell you what. Apparently your dad is on his way home to have a discussion with you and your mom. Once you three are all done, how about you and me go around town and start looking for some answers?"

"Why you and me?" I ask. "I can figure things out on my own."

"I'm worried, okay?" Inugami says. "What if you're out and about and suddenly POOF, everything's gone again? I'd feel really shitty if I left you out in the wild with no way of getting back to your family."

"… Sure, I get it," I say. "I'm not against the idea. Thank you for your help."

"No problem," Inugami says with a grin. "Now go down there and talk with your parents. I'm sure they're far more worried about you then I am."

"Understood. Just wait up here, I'll come and get you when we're all done."

I leave Inugami in my room and head downstairs. I found my mom sitting in some kind of fancy living room (is my family just loaded? This stuff is seriously ridiculous), so I sat with her in silence and waited for dad to come home. After maybe ten or fifteen minutes, the front door opened up.

"Sorry," a man says, running through the door and taking a bit to catch his breath. "I was on the other side of town, there was traffic and-"

"That's alright Joseph, just come here for a minute," my mom says.

… Joseph. I guess that's my dad's name. … So if he's "Joseph," and Inugami is "Inugami," then where in the world am I? Maybe I should ask for at least a few details. Just enough to establish something.

"Ah! Sweetie, are you okay?" my dad asks me as he joins us and sits in the couch across from me. "Beatrice- ah, sorry. Your mother told me what happened."

Joseph and Beatrice. … Joseph and Beatrice. I'll try to remember that.

"I'm fine… Father," I add, after a pause. "My head is just kind of screwy at the moment. Can we start with me asking some questions?"

"Of course Sweat Pea," my mom says.

"So, where are we, exactly?" I ask. "I kind of grasp the concept of being home and all, but the culture clash is weirding me out. You two are Joseph and Beatrice, my friend upstairs is Ui Inugami. Kind of confusing me."

"Right. We're in Japan now, Sweetie," my dad tells me. "I had some work to do here as a part of my job, so we moved here from our home in Italy."

No idea where that is. Why did I think asking this would help? Names like Japan and Italy have no meaning to me. I guess I had kind of hoped that whatever I remember, if anything, those would have some meaning. I suppose not.

"So, we moved from somewhere I don't know to somewhere I don't know," I say. "That's just riveting."

"Sweetie, are you sure you're feeling okay?" Dad asks.

"Quite fine, aside from not knowing anything about anything," I tell him. "I've decided to cut the questions and answers short, they won't do anything for me. Where's Italy? Is it a nice city? Is this a nice city? I don't know. And since I don't know, that winds up becoming 'I don't care,' which is really a shame."

Mom and Dad look at each other and appear to silently contemplate whether or not to say anything. … I think I can figure out what.

"I'm different, aren't I?" I ask.

"Wh-what?" my mom asks.

"I'm not acting the same as I did before I lost my memories, am I?" I ask. "Please, just be honest with me about that."

Dad sighs. "No. No, you seem quite a bit different from before. You kind of remind me of… No, nevermind."

… All that does is make me curious. I won't ask though. He probably has his reasons for being silent.

"I'm sorry," I tell them.

"For what?" my Mom asks. "You don't have anything to apologize for."

"I'm sorry for not being your daughter," I tell them.

"Don't say that!" Mom exclaims. She seems to have realized that she raised her voice perhaps a bit more then necessary, since her next words are a bit quieter. "It doesn't matter if you don't remember us, you're still out daughter."

"So if I'm not even aware that I'm your daughter, don't act like your daughter, and by almost every definition not your daughter, I'm still somehow your daughter?" I ask.

"Yes," my dad says. "Yes you are."

"… Thank you," I tell them. "I think I might have needed that. Since you're my parents, I figure I should tell you. I'm going out for the day, I was hoping to maybe find out something about my condition."

"Absolutely not!" my Mom says. "You need to stay home! What if you get hurt, or lose your memories again or something?"

"Inugami's coming with me," I tell them. "If anything happens she'll drag me back here."

"You don't even know her," my Dad says. "Having not met her myself it's hard for me to be suspicious of her or anything, but are you certain you can trust her?"

"I know her better then you two at the moment," I tell them. I realize my mistake instantly. "Sorry, I didn't mean anything, I just-"

"We know what you meant," my Mom says. She sounds like she's barely holding back tears. "We know perfectly well what you meant. And you're completely right. All things considered, you do know her far better then us."

My mom takes a breath.

"That's fine," she says. "Just please don't stay out too long. Please don't make me worry any more then I already have today."

"I won't," I tell her. "I won't make you worry either, dad."

"Heh," my dad chuckles. "I know you won't. Just be careful."

"I will. Good bye. I'll be back soon."

With that I run back up to my room and got ready to grab Inugami and leave. That plan was stopped by Inugami yelling at me to change into something resembling a proper outfit. Apparently the nightdress isn't proper. Once I had changed into a new outfit (Inugami excused herself from my room while I did that), we both headed out. For those curious, my outfit consisted of a pink sleeveless dress, a white hooded jacket, white thigh-high stockings and sneakers. I didn't much care what I was wearing because the second I do that magical girl thing my outfit changes anyway.

As we started our walk through town I started thinking about the chat with my parents. That talk went well. Could have gone better. Could have gone worse. I'm proud of how that went. Nothing horribly imploded all over itself, and I didn't eat anyone's neck. Always a plus.

"So how'd your talk go?" Inugami asks me after we spent a few minutes walking around.

"Good. It went good," I tell her. "Asked a little about my history, but turns out my memory loss goes pretty far."

"How far?" she asks.

"Apparently my family used to live in some city called Italy, before we moved out here. Something about my dad's job," I explain. "Apparently this city's called Japan? No idea where it is in relation to Italy. Could I walk there easily?"

"… No," Inugami says. "No, none of that's even close to being correct. Italy and Japan are countries, not cities."

"Oh, that makes sense," I say, nodding my head a bit. "I mean, I kind of felt like that information was wrong, but I didn't know enough so I went with it. Countries, huh?"

"… You do know what countries are, right?" Inugami asks in a worried tone.

"Of course," I tell her. "I went to school, I'm not an idiot."

"Oh, you remembered something?" Inugami asks, perking up a bit. "What school did you go to?"

"I don't know, I have amnesia," I tell her, somewhat matter-of-factly. "I just know that in my mind there's this image of school as a horrifying prison where they chain you to desks and fill your head with meaningless dribble until they eventually declare your fit to go out into the world."

"Wh-where did you even get an idea like that?"

"Nowhere, I made it up," I tell her. "I'm messing with you."

Inugami relaxes a bit, then she gets really annoyed.

"Don't do that!" she yells at me. "I'm trying to help you out here and you go and do stuff like that! I mean, how much have you forgotten anyway? You can't recognize Italy or Japan as countries but you know that you go to school to learn things. What's up with that?"

"I don't know," I tell her. "Honestly I have no idea what I do and don't know. Honestly, I shouldn't even be certain that those two back at the house we left are my parents. I don't recognize them, nothing about them seems even the tiniest bit familiar to me. But then they go and say things like I'm their daughter, or that I'm acting different then I used to and I just kind of know they're right. I guess it's instinct or something. Like, there's some part of my mind that still remembers everything? I don't know."

"Hmmm… I'm not a doctor so I can't really tell you much about that," Inugami tells me. "I'm not the one to go to if you're looking for a proper diagnosis."

"Didn't think so," I reply. "That's why I wanted to go around town. Remember what the Cabbit said?"

"Cabbit?"

"Cat-rabbit."

"You mean Kyubey?"

"Yeah, him. Remember the Cabbit said that memory loss could be caused by someone wishing for the memories to disappear?"

"You think someone wished your memories away? Why?"

"No real reason," I say. "I just figure that if that was the case then we wouldn't have to do much looking around and can find out pretty quickly if that's the wrong route to go down. Magical girls aren't that common, right?"

"I've met a few myself, but not enough to call them that common at all," Inugami says.

"So we just go around, find some magical girls and find out if any of them recognize me, and made some kind of wish related to me. … Hey, Inugami-"

"I'm innocent," she says, holding her hands up. "I wished for my dog to come back to life for one more day so I could properly say goodbye. Nothing to do with you. You stopping those two thugs was the first time I ever met you."

"Is that so? Well, thank you. Are most magical girls as open with their wish as you?"

"Mine's not really all that personal so I don't much care if anyone knows, though I imagine most magical girls would have much more personal wishes that they aren't willing to share," Inugami says.

"Is that so? This might be tricky," I muse.

"Indeed," Inugami says. "Where do we start?"

"…"

"This will be tricky," I say.

"Indeed," Inugami says with a sigh of resignation. "For now, I should probably go hunt a witch or something. It's been a while, so it'd be nice to have a grief seed on hand in case I need one."

"Is that so? Well, it wouldn't be that bad for me to figure out this witch hunting business either," I say. "Apparently I'm a vampire now, having to consume others to keep myself alive and strong."

"More of a lich then a vampire, what with the soul gem and everything," Inugami says.

No idea what a lich is. Guess they have something to do with souls. I won't ask, it doesn't seem important. For now, I should focus on witch hunting. This is my life now, apparently, so let's get on with that.

"Okay, step one," Inugami begins. "Get your soul gem out."

She waves her hand and her ring turns into it's gem form. I follow suit, and bring out my gem.

"Alright, now we go around random places, and if it starts glowing then a witch is nearby. We go into it's hiding place, beat the crap out of it, then we win."

"That's it?" I ask.

"That's it," Inugami confirms with a smile. "Alright Scarlet, let's head out!"

"Go team," I dryly cheer as we begin our hunt.

"Okay, Witches cause despair and madness, so it's good to look in places where lots of people commit suicide."

"Cheery thought."

"It's one of the most telling signs of a nearby witch," Inugami tells me. "Like I said, they cause despair and madness which infects people's mind and twists their thoughts until they either kill themselves, or are lured into the witches labyrinth and killed by the witch herself. So by killing the witch we get the grief seed to elongate our life, as well as save the lives of those nearby. As a bonus, we get to put the poor magical girl who turned into the witch out of her misery so she doesn't have to hurt any ever again. Everyone gets something out of it."

"When you put it like that it almost sounds like we're have a point in existing," I say.

"Of course the only reason we need to clean up the witches is because we got screwed over by the incubators and all that."

"Way to kill the moment."

"Sorry," Inugami says, not sounding very sorry. "Hmmmmm. Okay! I think I got something! See?"

Inugami's soul gem appears to be glowing slightly.

"Now all we need to do is follow the glow and we find a witch labyrinth," Inugami says proudly. "Follow me, Scarlet!"

Inugami rushes off and I try my best to keep up with her. After a few twists, turns and accidental dead ends we run into another dead end.

"Shouldn't dogs be better at tracking then this?" I ask.

"I do just fine, thank you very much," Inugami says. "See?"

She holds her soul gem out and some weird circle appears, floating in the air.

"Ta-da!" Inugami exclaims. "And here's the entrance. Now all we need to do is hop in, beat up the witch and move on with our lives."

Inugami does that costume switch and looks at me. … Oh, right. I should do that too. I focus as hard as I can and eventually pull the transformation off.

"Awesome, let's head in," Inugami says.

"Can I even fit through the entrance?" I wonder aloud. "The wings are a little cumbersome."

"If you take it carefully it should be fine," Inugami assures me. "Let's go."

She jumps through the entrance and disappears completely. I keep a careful eye on my wings and slip through the entrance as well. Inugami was waiting for me on the other side.

"See? Simple! Ready to kick some ass and chalk up your first witch kill?"

"Before that I have one last question."

"Fire away."

"Do most witch labyrinths start off with no floor?"

"Eh?"

That was when Inugami finally noticed that we were falling through the empty, blue sky.

"What the heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeell!?"

"Ah, so this doesn't happen often," I note.

"Don't act so unflappably calm when we're turning into meteorites!" Inugami yells at me. "What do we do here? We're magical girls so I doubt a fall at terminal velocity will kill us, but it'll really hurt!"

"Calm down," I tell her. "Look. Birdcages."

"Hmm? Oh yeah, a bunch of floating bird cages. How does that help us?"

"Like this," I reach out and the black spear I used on the thugs appears in my hand again. I thrust it forward and it stabs into one of the bird cages, stopping my fall. I climb into the bird cage and thank some kind of higher force that I'm on relatively solid ground again. I look out and try to spot Inugami. … Where'd she go? … She didn't keep falling did she?

As I'm wondering this, the cage I'm in rattles a bit. I turn around to see what could be doing that and immediately come face to face with a very large, white wolf.

"… Good doggy," I say, patting the wolf on the head to hopefully convince it that I'm not a dog treat.

Suddenly the dog glows a bit and starts changing form. When the light dies down, Inugami is standing there instead.

"Really wish you'd stop calling me a dog," Inugami says.

"I know that's my magical ability and all, but it still kind of bugs me," Inugami continues. "At least call me a wolf or something. Something cool. Doggy doesn't sound very threatening."

"So you turn into a wolf," I note, finally deciding to remove my hand from her head.

"Magical girl's abilities are determined by their wish," Inugami says. "I wished to see my dog again, so I got dog powers. Probably. Maybe it was luck of the draw or something, I dunno. It's really not important right now, we have a witch to deal with."

"Speaking of which, where is it?" I ask. "All I see is blue skies and giant bird cages."

"Yeah, that's weird," Inugami states. "Normally there's some kind of path to the center of the labyrinth where the witch is, but I can't see anything that would help with that. Of course considering the design of the area-"

The cage starts shaking again. We look around and find the cause pretty easily. I mean, it would be pretty weird to miss the giant three-legged raven sitting on top of the cage. At least, I think it was a third leg. It's kind of hard to tell considering how mangled and beaten that leg was compared to the other two. It's wings weren't in much better shape; one wing was little more then a skeletal structure resembling a wing while the other appeared to be rotting somewhat. The raven also didn't have eyes. Where there should be eyes there was just black. I see what looks like some weird type of lettering behind the raven. "Yatagarasu." Is that the witch's name?

"Inugami, are most witches this horrifying to look at?" I ask, never moving my gaze from the dying raven.

"I've seen much worse," Inugami says. "This really isn't that bad, all things considered. I shouldn't need to tell you how to fight this thing, right?"

"Just beat it into submission, right?" I ask.

"Go crazy," Inugami confirms. She turns back into a wolf and leaps out of this cage, and onto another one nearby. She bounds off of that cage and towards Yatagarasu. Inugami takes first blood by biting into it's non-skeletal wing. The raven screeches in pain and flaps it's wings to try and shake Inugami off. She holds tight, her jaws clamping as hard as she can onto the wings. She let's go and is flung into the air. She lands on the raven's face and beings clawing at it's empty eye sockets.

… I should probably help her out. Now, how to get up to the top of the cage? I look around and spot a bird cage not too far away. I can make that jump, right? If a magic dog can make that jump, I'm sure I have nothing to worry about. I don't bother thinking about it any more, for fear of something resembling common sense getting in the way, and jump for the cage. I end up putting a little more strength then expected into it, and nearly run into the bird cage face first. As it is, I'm just barely able to turn myself around and land on the top of the bird cage feet first. I push off again and head towards Yatagarasu. I ready my spear and once I'm close enough I stab it directly into the bird's body. It screeches again then leaps off the cage and starts flying away, with me and Inugami in tow.

"How can it fly when it only has one wing, and that wing is barely even functioning?" I wonder aloud. "How's that suppose to work?"

I briefly look at my christmas wings. Despite my best efforts, they don't so much as budge. Well, that's one more thing me and the raven don't have in common. Even if they did move they're just christmas tree branches, so I don't know what I'd be expecting. The bird starts spinning around very quickly. The force of the spin makes me let go of my spear and I go flying up into the air. … I think it was up, the rapid rotating kind of messed with what little sense of direction I had left. And, yep. There's gravity taking over, I was definitely thrown upwards. Luckily for me, the bird is still under me, so I can use this to my advantage. I bring my hands together and as soon as I'm in range, bring them down as hard as I can on Yatagarasu's head. A loud crack reverberates throughout the air and stuns the bird long enough for me to grab my spear out of it's torso. I land on another bird cage and look back at the bird. I see Inugami continually throwing herself at the bird and either biting off a chunk or clawing at it before leaping back to safety to avoid the bird's attempts to scratch at her or bite her with it's beak. Eventually it starts learning her patterns and manages to twirl, slapping Inugami with it's wing. Inugami is sent flying and crashes into the birdcage right next to me, now back in her human form.

"So are we doing good?" I ask.

"One of the easier fights I've been in," Inugami says, rubbing her head. "I know it doesn't seem like we've done much damage, but I can tell it's near death."

"Are you sure? The rotting and skeletal wings and general sickly atmosphere aren't quite convincing me," I tell her.

"All we need to do is just get in once last good blow and we should be good," Inugami ignores me.

"Ah, good. So if the bird were to get close enough for you to go all wolf mode-"

"Then I should be able to pull something off, yeah," Inugami confirms.

"Well here's your chance."

"Eh?"

The raven witch flew towards us, charging right through the cage we were standing on. The cage is torn to pieces and me and Inugami start falling through the air again.

"Missed your shot," I tell her.

"Stop acting so unflappably calm!" Inugami yells as we keep falling.

"If it makes you feel any better-"

*SPLAT*

"There was a cage right below us," I tell Inugami as I peel myself off the cold metallic roof of the cage.

"Tell me important things like that SOONER!" Inugami yells as she rolls over. She takes a deep breath and works on recollecting her thoughts.

_"Hey, anyone in there that can hear me?"_

"Inugami, am I insane?" I ask.

"No, I hear them too. Telepathy's a magical girl thing, don't worry," Inugami assures me. _"Two magical girls in here. What's up?"_

_"Do you need any help with the witch? I'd hate to take the kill away from… oh. Okay, I've been informed by my partner that, in her words, 'kill stealing is fair game, don't tell them anything you don't need to.' … Ah! Now she's freaking out because I wasn't supposed to tell you that."_

"Inugami, are they insane?" I ask.

"I'll get back to you on that," Inugami tells me. "Are you here to help or not?"

_"Yes! Yes we are! So if you two could risk your lives trying to distract the witch so we can come in and kill it then that would be extremely helpful!"_

"… Um…" Inugami is at a loss for words. "Screw it, I don't care. The witch is flying all the way over there though, and by the time we could get close enough to attack it would see us. It'd either attack, or run away and that won't help anyone. Scarlet, got any ideas for witch distractions?"

"That depends, does my idea count as something important that you need me to tell you?" I ask.

"Yes it does," Inugami says.

"Okay. My plan is to pick you up, throw you at the witch, then have you go wolf mode all over it's face. Then, either the backup arrives, or I'll have gotten over there and can help out."

"Do you think you can actually make a shot like that?" Inugami asks.

"Probably."

"That doesn't fill me with much hope, but since I don't have any better ideas, let's go with that one. If you get me killed I will be very cross."

I'll make sure to keep a good exorcist on hand if that's the case. Okay, the witch is over there, circling around that one bird cage. Circling once… twice… Okay, here we go! I grab Inugami, spin around a bit to build up momentum then toss her right at the witch. Halfway through the flight she turns into a wolf, which collides right into the witch, knocking it up against the cage. Inugami gets as firm a grip as she can with her claws and bites into the bird. While Inugami gets to work on the bird I start hopping across the cages to get over and help her.

"Now we go, since it's distracted, right?" someone off in the distance says.

"Yes, now!" another voice calls.

That voice was punctuated by six loud bangs, surprisingly similar to that thug's gun. Yatagarasu cries out in pain, but is silenced by a white blur coming down and smashing some kind of large club into it's head. The bird's skull is split open from the impact and it begins falling. The white blue quickly grabs Inugami and hops to safety on a non-destroyed cage.

"Blondie, finish it off!" the voice from earlier calls out.

"My name's Scarlet, not Blondie!" I yell at her as I leap out into the open sky. I line myself up with the witch and aim. I toss my spear and it flies straight down until it impales the bird in the eye socket. Not content with just that, I reach out and grab another spear from thin air and toss it, impaling it in the other eye.

"Not dead yet," I say. I keep grabbing spears and tossing them until there's nowhere else to stab it. The bird fades away, and the world around me becomes all wavy before eventually fading completely, putting me back in the alleyway we entered from. I land as well as I can (face first, since I wasn't exactly prepared for the sudden appearance of ground) and pull myself off the ground and dust myself off.

"That went well," I say.

"I'm not dead, so I can't exactly be cross with it, now can I?" Inugami says.

"I'm glad we could help!" One of the newcomers says.

"Though in all honesty you probably didn't need it," the other one says.

The cheery newcomer had long white hair, tied off in two tails. She had really bright red eyes and her smile seemed more like it had been painted on, rather then an actual smile. She had two gold hoops earrings which matched her gold bracelets. She was wearing an elaborate white dress with all sorts of frills and decorations, paired with a set of white boots. Her weapon was a very large mace of some sort. Her arms looks a little too twig-like to carry that thing around as effortlessly as she can, but whatever. All things considered, I probably shouldn't be one to talk about twigs.

The other, less cheery fellow had short black hair and dark, somewhat purple eyes. She had some kind of light blue cloth covering her arms (sleeves that weren't attached to anything, I suppose), as well as some gold bands in assorted places a decoration. Covering her torso was two strips of clothing the same color as her sleeves in an x shape across her chest. She also had a similarly colored skirt that came down to mid thigh… and that was about it. I think whoever was making the outfit used all the material in the sleeves and didn't have enough to make a proper shirt, skirt, shoes or really anything else.

"I can't really say we _needed_ the help, but I'm not going to be ungrateful for it," Inugami tells them.

"Always a pleasure!" Cheery says. "By the way, who are you two?"

"Ui Inugami, pleasure to meet you," Inugami says with a bow.

"Amnesiac, pleasure to meet you," I say, putting my hands behind my head. "I've been going by Scarlet though, so that works."

"Amnesia? You alright?" Not-so-cheery asks.

"Aside from apparently completely losing my original character and personality as well as a lot of basic knowledge, I think I'll be okay," I say.

"Well, that's good at least," Not-so-cheery says, sounding a bit unsure. "Well, since you introduced yourselves, I suppose it would only be fair to introduce ourselves. Miku Yagami, at your service. The cheerful one's named Inko."

As if on cue, Inko appears right in front of me and stares right into my eyes, and I stare right back. A somewhat awkward silence fills the air for about a minute.

"Have we met somewhere before?" Inko asks. "That's what people say when they try to coerce others into partnering with them, is it not?"

"Are you hitting on Scarlet?" Inugami asks, seeming quite ready to step in between the two of us.

"Of course not!" Inugami cheerily announces before taking a few steps back away from me. "Merely an observation about the status of that particular line. I would like an answer to my question though, if you can provide it."

"Amnesiac, I know nothing," I tell her.

"Ah! Of course. I'm probably mistaken anyway," Inko says. "I've been wrong very often in the past few weeks."

"Is your friend always this odd?" Inugami asks Yagami.

"Yep," Yagami confirms. "She's weird."

"Yes, I am weird!" Inko announces to the world.

"Where's the grief seed?" Yagami asks, thankfully changing the subject. "It should have dropped, right?"

I look around and spot some weird object on the ground. I pick it up and show it to the group.

"This thing, right?" I ask.

"Bingo," Inugami confirms.

"Well, you two did most of the work on the fight, so I suppose it belongs to you," Yagami says.

"Ah, what she actually means is, 'I'm really worried about you two, so go ahead and take the grief seed,'" Inko explains.

"I-I-Inko! I mean nothing of the sort!" Yagami yells, her face turning a few cute shades of red.

"Oh, the type who has trouble being honest," Inugami notes.

"I can be perfectly honest I'll have you know," Yagami says with a pout. "Anyway, think you two will be fine on your own?"

"She really means 'Amensia is a really serious thing. Are you sure you're okay? And you got hurt pretty badly during the fight Ui, do you guys want me to walk you home or anything?'" Inko translates.

"Nothing of the sort!" More red-faced blushing. "Stop telling them things they don't need to know!"

"… You want to come over to my house?" I ask. "Maybe grab some food as a 'thank you' for helping out?"

"I'm not particularly hungry, but if you insist then I guess I have to accept," Yagami says, trying to sound aloof.

Inko opens her mouth, but Inugami cuts her off.

"No need to translate, we got the message," Inugami says.

"Very well then!" Inko says with a bright smile. "I quite like the taste of food!"

And with that as the final word on the topic, we all transformed back into casual clothing and we started heading back to my house. As Inugami and I showed them back to my house, I started getting a really bad feeling. And a horrible headache, but the bad feeling took precedence. I feel like something's going to happen soon. … Argh, this headache makes it hard to think. Must be a result of being repeatedly rammed into a birdcage at very high speed. I tried to keep that bad feeling in mind just in case something did happen. I want to be prepared for anything that could possibly happen.


	3. Chapter 3: The Answer is No, Right?

**Author Notes:**

Okay, first off some character bios:

Yoko Tsukihime: The first new girl that shows up this chapter, who later becomes Luna, the moon witch with a helpful nature. She was a very last minute addition. By last minute, I mean the idea for her came to me literally the second I sat down to begin writing the chapter. The moon witch was always there, but her magical girl form wasn't. Her magical girl outfit was somewhat inspired by Cirno's outfit from Touhou. Her witch was somewhat inspired by Charlotte from the main series, being a small doll and everything, but her actual attire came from elsewhere, but that's not what matters about her: She could talk. Witches can totally talk. Bebe/Charlotte talked in Rebellion (there was some extraneous circumstances, but whatever), and a witch in Kazumi Magica also had very limited dialogue, so witches can totally talk. She shouldn't really be able to remember what she was looking for, or who Yukari is, but my justification, as flimsy as it may be, is that they were just that important to her that they stayed with her even as her mind was warped by the witch transformation. … It could totally happen. Didn't *spoiler* in Rebellion do a pretty good job of remembering her friends? Luna was a pretty easy to defeat witch on account of being a newborn. If she had been around for longer she would have been significantly harder to deal with. I'm kind of looking forward to writing a battle with an older witch that's tougher then the newbie witches we've dealt with so far.

Yukari: Her design is somewhat inspired by Yukari Takeba from Persona 3. By inspired, I mean she's a healer, who uses a bow and wears the pink sweater. Everything after that is made up. Unlike Yoko, Yukari is somewhat important to the plot, so I won't be able to say much about her until we get to that point. … I spent significantly more time talking about a character who dies almost immediately then a character who's actually important. … Huh.

Yuki: Her magical girl outfit is somewhat inspired by Letty Whiterock, from Touhou. The cold manipulation somewhat comes from that as well. Somewhat. Originally she was the one based on Cirno, but then that went to Yoko, so Yuki's appearance changed even though her powers and attitude stayed the same. Her name came late in the design process, but then it came to me. Yuki = snow. Simple.

Anyway, this was a Scarlet and Yagami chapter. Yagami, as you saw, can create illusion copies of herself that are just as useful as the real one. The copies are more or less autonomous, and she can have six copies at most. Anything more drains far too much of her soul gem to be considered useful. The wish that resulted in those abilities: she wished for friends, as Inko was saying before Yagami interrupted her. I'm having fun writing her. Anyway, I plan on touching this chapter up a bit more later, maybe fix a few problems I had with it, but for now it should be fine. Enjoy the chapter, see you next time.

**Chapter 3: "The Answer is no, right?"**

"I'm back," I say as I walk through the door to my house.

"Welcome ba-" my mother pauses when she sees the company I've brought with me. "Sweat Pea, who are they?"

"Miku Yagami, it's a pleasure to meet you," Yagami introduces herself.

"My name is Inko!" the hyper one declares. "Pleasurable morning to you!"

"Inko, that's not the right one," Yagami corrects her.

"Oh, It's not? Um… Good night!"

"Not even close!"

"Are they… friends of yours?" Mother asks, sounding somewhat worried.

"…. I think yes is a good answer," I say after a long pause. "I currently owe them a favor of sorts, so I thought I'd invite them over for a meal or something."

"She doesn't owe us anything," Yagami says. "Inko and I just happened to be around that area and thought we'd offer to help out. Watching people who don't know what they're doing stumble around is just painful to me."

"Ah, so you what you really mean is 'I really wanted to help her out if I could, so I did my best,'" my mother translates.

"You got it exactly right!" Inko says.

"Is that so?" I ask.

"I'm as surprised as you are," Inugami says to me. "I didn't expect her to be so easy to read."

"N-no! None of that's true at all! I don't particularly like helping people out," Yagami insists. "Like I said, I was in the area, and I could get some benefit out of helping you, so I did."

"Well, if you didn't really want to help my daughter out then I don't really see why you deserve any sort of appreciative meal," my mom says. "I suppose you and your friend will just have to-"

"N-no! I really did want to help her, please don't kick me out!" Yagami exclaims, kneeling before my mother and begging.

"Oh relax, I'm just kidding," my mother says, patting Yagami on the head. "I'll go get started on something, so why don't you four head upstairs and kill some time while it all cooks?"

Yagami realizes the position she is and quickly bolts to her feet, clears her throat and tries to regain some of her composure.

"That sounds pretty good," Yagami says. "I thank you for your hospitality."

"And right back to the high and mighty act," Inugami notes.

"Shut up," Yagami says.

"So where are we going Scarlet?" Inko asks. "The lady said upstairs. Which room? Are we going to the attic? I don't think I've ever been in an attic before, so it would a wonderful new experience for me!"

"I suppose we could just rest in my room," I say. "There's something I wanted to talk about with you two anyway."

"Oh? What might that be?" Yagami asks.

"Come up to her room and find out," Inugami says. "Or no meal."

"You didn't need to add that last part," Yagami grumbles as I lead the trio up to my room.

Once inside I flop down on my bed. I really like this bed. It's pretty comfortable. That's one thing I can note about myself pre-amnesia: I had great taste in beds.

"Okay, so now we're inside your room and away from prying ears," Yagami notes. "I suppose you want to talk magical girl stuff? I'm going to assume your mom doesn't know about it, does she?"

"Heck if I know," I say with a shrug.

"Ah, right," Yagami says. "Do you even know how you lost your memories?"

"That's probably something she wanted to ask you about," Inugami says. "See, we're kind of wondering if perhaps a magical girl wished away her memories or something similar."

"Is that even possible?" Yagami asks.

"Absolutely!" Inko pipes up. "Magical girls are bringers of miracles after all. There's no reason one wouldn't be able to do something as mundane as wish away someone else's memories."

"I see…" Yagami muses. "A-ah! It wasn't me! I'm completely innocent!"

"Is that so? So then what was your wish, if you don't mind me asking?" I ask.

Yagami starts mumbling something inaudible before going silent.

"Speak up please," Inugami asks.

"My wish doesn't matter," Yagami says somewhat sullenly. "Wishes aren't something you should go about blabbing to other people anyway. It's a really personal issue, you know?!"

"But Miku, didn't you tell me that you wished for frien-"

Yagami uses her hands to cover Inko's mouth before she can say anything important.

"I thought I told you to never mention that again!" Yagami hisses at Inko. "I asked you to not mention that to anyone!"

"… Oh yeah, you did," Inko mumbles through Yagami's hand.

Yagami sighs and removes her hand, and Inko goes right back to affixing that permanent smile to her face.

"So yeah, if you think some other magical girl messed with your brain, sorry, but I'm not her and don't know anyone who could have done anything like that," Yagami says. "The only magical girl I'm acquainted with to any meaningful extent is this weirdo."

"Miku has helped me a lot these past several weeks!" Inko pipes up. "I likely wouldn't be alive if she hadn't helped me learn the basics. I owe a lot to her!"

"Don't say stuff like that, you'd have been able to manage," Yagami insists. "Though I suppose you were pretty hopeless when I first saw you. How do you not even know how to use a mace? You just swing it around! And no magic either. What the hell, Inko?"

"My wish was a little unorthodox," Inko says with a smile. "There really wasn't any way that I could get a magical ability out of it. I'm surprised I even got a weapon out of it, to be honest. I am grateful though, since without it I wouldn't have had any chance!"

"I don't know about that," Inugami says. "You seem reasonably tough, and I do just fine without a weapon."

"That's because you are the weapon, doggy," I tell her.

"Again with that?"

"Ah, you're right. That's because you are the weapon, wolfy," I correct my previous statement. "Is that better?"

"No, but I've more or less no choice but to accept that as my name apparently," Inugami sighs.

"So, how long have you two known each other?" Yagami asks. "I haven't known many magical girls, but I sometimes hear a few things from Kyubey and his incubator grapevine. Magical girl team ups aren't all that common from what he tells me."

"Says the half of a duo," Inugami points out.

"I know, that's why I'm asking," Yagami says.

"Team ups are rare, so it's so weird having a duo meet another pair of partners!" Inko explains.

"Well we're not exactly partners," Inugami says. "I just met Scarlet today."

"Today? Like, today, today?" Yagami asks. "Not today as in, a year ago and this is your anniversary or anything?"

"Well, Inugami did propose to me at some point, so perhaps this could be an anniversary," I muse.

"I did no such thing!" Inugami exclaims. "That was just you making up crazy things about the magical girl rings!"

"They do seem like they could be wedding rings, don't they?" Yagami asks Inko.

"I doubt that was the intention, but no one really knows where the designs come from," Inko says. "They just sort of appear when the contract is made so… Perhaps some of the designs actually are based on wedding rings?"

"In any case, we're not engaged," Inugami clarifies. "I met this little shrimp-"

"Is that an insult?" I ask Inko, who just shrugs.

"When she helped me out earlier today," Inugami finishes. "So I thought I'd repay the favor a bit. Also maybe give her a crash course on magical girls so she doesn't just drown from lack of knowledge."

"Should I translate?" Inko asks happily.

"No need, she's almost as see-through as Yagami," I tell Inko.

""I'm not see-through!"" both girls complain.

"And I'm not the heir to a huge empire," I retort.

"Huh? Empire?" Inugami asks. "What's that mean?"

I shrug.

"I dunno, it just sounded like it would be fun to say," I tell her.

"Stupid idiot! Stop doing that!"

"But your angry, blushing face is adorable," I tell her. Instead of a retort, Inugami starts blushing even harder and sputtering. Seems she's the type who's so unaccustomed to compliments that she just shuts down. Useful knowledge.

"Oh! I also wish to try this experiment!" Inko declares cheerfully before turning to Yagami. "Yagami… You're really beautiful!"

"E-eh?! Wh-what the hell are you talking about you… you…" Yagami turns a darker shade of red then Inugami, but the sputtering was rather similar.

"Experiment has produced some intriguing results," Inko says happily.

"Indeed. It appears we have discovered an easily exploitable weakness."

"Since our experiments have succeeded I propose we engage in a standard celebratory procedure," Inko suggests.

"Is that so? What would that be?"

Inko holds her hand out.

"I request a high five," Inko says.

I have no idea what that is, but it looks like I just hold my hand up like her. I mirror her movements, and Inko lightly slaps her palm against mine.

"We did it!" Inko cheerfully exclaims.

"Well they seem to get along just fine," Inugami says, having finally recovered.

"But what's that mean for us?" Yagami asks in response.

"A lot of embarrassment and headaches?"

"Hear, hear," Yagami dryly states.

Despite the chat distracting me, I remember something I had been meaning to ask.

"Hey, are they any ways to sense witches beyond just looking at your glowing soul gem?" I ask.

"Hmmm," Inko starts thinking. "I believe that some magical girls have some sort of 'sixth sense' of sorts for feeling out where witch's labyrinths are located. It's believed that this is just an extension of the soul gem's ability to locate them, so it's possible that with enough practice anyone could conceivably pull off that trick."

"That sounds pretty useful," I say.

"You're not asking because you feel something like that right now, are you?" Yagami asks, sounding a bit worried.

"Probably not," I tell her. "I've got a horrible headache though, so I was wondering if it was perhaps related."

"Maybe you're close to remembering something?" Inugami asks. "I think I've read stories like that. When the amnesiac gets close to something they should remember but don't they get this horrible headache for some reason."

"Is that so?" I ask.

"I dunno, I've never had amnesia before," Inugami says.

"Well, might as well test that idea out. Is there anything here that you should probably remember but don't?" Yagami asks.

"Besides everything?" I ask.

"O-oh yeah, that is a kind of dumb question," Yagami says sheepishly.

"Maybe you just need some fresh air?" Inko suggests.

"I'll open the window then, I suppose," I say as I get up and walk over. I undo the locks on the window and lift it up to let the air in. "Hmm?"

"What's up?" Inugami asks.

Running around the street outside my window was a girl. Looked around my age, with short, pale blue hair. She was too far away for me to get a good visual on any other distinguishing features. Well, except for the kind of obvious one.

"Hey, my head's still a bit fuzzy so please enlighten me. Is it normal in this city to see a girl running around, bleeding profusely and looking ready to drop dead at any moment?"

"… No. No it is not," Inugami replies.

"Ah. I see. I should probably go check on her then," I say, getting ready to hop out of the window.

"H-hey! Watch what you're-"

"I'll be right back, tell Mom I stepped out for a minute," I say before hopping out the window. I hit the ground and try to find the girl again. … There. I start running after her, hoping to catch up as soon as possible. She takes a few odd turns, going down some alleys, popping out of others and making herself very hard to keep track of. Is she being followed by someone? … Followed by someone besides me, that is.

Eventually the girl slows down and comes to a stop, panting for breath. The girl is covered in wounds, the most eye-catching of which was the huge chunk of flesh taken out of her arm which was likely the cause of most of the blood. Other then the wounds, what caught my eye the most was her outfit. A poofy blue dress adorned with a red ribbon that was pinned to her chest by a fancy jewel. The sleeves were short and puffy, and the tops of her thigh-high stockings were adorned with clear crystals. Six white, untied ribbons were pinned to her back by similar crystals. I don't really feel like this is normal, everyday set of clothes so that means this person must be-

"A magical girl," I say to myself.

The girl yelps in surprise and turns around… and around… and around.

"Wh-where are you?!" she asks.

"Can you not see?" I ask. "I'm right here."

"Ah!" She yelps again and turns towards me. Seeing her face allows me to finally notice the huge gash in her head. All the blood pouring from the wound must be obscuring her vision somewhat.

"L-leave me alone!" she yells at me. "We've got nothing to do with you anymore! I just… I just have to find her house and she'll help us and everything'll be fine."

"Who's 'her?' Which house are you talking about?" I ask. "You don't look okay, do you need any help?"

The girl starts calming down a bit.

"You're… You're not with Deus' group?" she asks me.

"What the heck is a Deus?" I ask.

The girl sighs in relief, then gasps in fear.

"Oh no! Yukari! I have to… we got separated and then… she's going to be-AAAH!"

The girl yells in pain and falls to her knees.

"Hey, what's the matter?" I ask, kneeling next to her.

The girl grabs at the jewel holding the ribbon to her chest and holds it in her hands. Upon closer inspection, the jewelry turned out to be her soul gem. Unlike mine or Inugami's, however, her's was almost completely black and it looked like something was pulsing inside the gem, trying to break out.

"Heh, I went a little overboard in trying to fight her off," the girl says, somewhat sadly. "I'm such a failure. I couldn't even… I couldn't even find her."

"Hey, what are you talking about?" I ask.

The girl looks at me. She pauses for a second, as if trying to get her thoughts in order, then she starts smiling.

"Ah! It's-"

"SCARLET, GET BACK!"

Before I can question either of those statements, there's a large explosion. I'm thrown back by the force and Yagami just barely manages to catch me.

"Why are you here?" I ask.

"Someone had to make sure you'd be okay," she says. "I'm pretty good at finding people, so I volunteered to follow you."

"Okay, now what's going on?" I ask. "She was just fine a second ago, then there was the explosion."

"Scarlet, that explosion was her soul gem turning into a grief seed. She's turning into a witch."

"But… But that can't be-"

"Just look around," Yagami tells me. The area around us is starting to distort. What used to be the walls of the alley are being replaced by a black, starry sky. The pavement we were just standing on is turning rocky and grey. I see. A witch labyrinth. So the girl I was just talking to is gone now.

"So now we need to kill her, right?" I ask, getting myself out of Yagami's grip.

"Scarlet… No, you're right," Yagami says, transforming into her magical girl outfit. "She can't be saved anymore. Might as well put her out of her misery before she hurts anyone else."

"Right," I say, as I transform into my outfit as well. I grip my spear as hard as I can, trying to psyche myself up for this. Come on me, get a grip on yourself. She's a witch, just like Yatagarasu. This isn't your first time doing this. Though I suppose it's easier when you can think of them as mindless monsters, and not as people you were just talking with a minute ago.

"Alright the barrier looks very astrological," Yagami says, spinning the chamber of her revolver repeatedly. "Her witch must be related to celestial bodies of some kind. Be careful."

On cue, a loud laugh echoes behind us. We turn around and see what looks like a doll sitting on a crescent moon. She was tiny, maybe 30 centimeters tall, with a somewhat blank, expressionless face. The doll was wearing a purple and green dress, with some weird wires extending past the skirt in some kind of hoop shape. Is it some kind of skirt extension or something? The dolls hair was tied in a single braid using a moon shaped decoration. Like the raven before her, I saw some letters appear behind her. "Luna."

Luna began looking around, like she was searching for something. She starts talking, but I can't understand a word she's saying. Luckily some more of those letters appear around her mouth, allowing for an easy translation.

**"Alice? Alice, where'd you go?"**

"It's… It's not attacking us," Yagami notes. "What's it doing?"

Luna's moon chair starts floating around her labyrinth, searching for someone that won't be showing up. The witch finally notices me and Yagami. It's blank, doll face falls off, revealing a happy, smiling face behind it. The moon floats towards us, and Yagami takes aim at it with her gun.

**"Hey, guys! I'm looking for Alice. Have you seen her?"** Luna says to us, unaffected by the gun pointed at her.

"Get back witch!" Yagami says. "I don't want to shoot you, but I have to!"

**"Why? I won't hurt anyone. I'm looking for Alice. She lives around her, and she'd help me. I know she would, she's my best friend!"**

"… Why aren't you attacking us?" Yagami asks. "You're a witch. Witches kill people. We kill witches. Why aren't you trying to defend yourself?"

"Yagami…" I try to grab her attention, but she doesn't hear me.

**"Does Alice not live here anymore? That can't be the case!"**

"S-stay back!" Yagami takes a step back at the doll's outburst and points the gun at her head. "I'm going to shoot you."

"Yagami, can you not hear her?" I ask.

"I hear her just fine, but she's just babbling nonsense!" Yagami says.

**"Nonsense? That's the nonsense! Ah, you're just an idiot aren't you? Stupid, stupid."**

The doll reaches a small fist towards Yagami. Yagami pulls the trigger and shoots Luna in the head. Her face breaks apart, revealing a sad, wounded expression.

"Yagami, what was that for?" I ask.

"She was attacking me!" Yagami insists. "She was going to hit me and-"

I bop her in the head slightly with my fist.

"She was doing that," I tell Yagami. "She was calling you and idiot and she was going to tap you on the head."

"Eh? She was… Wait, you understood her?"

**"That… REALLY HURT!"**

A large chunk breaks off of the doll's moon and shoots towards Yagami. She manages to jump to the side and dodge it.

**"I just wanted some help and you went and shot me! Mmmmmm, I'm really angry now! If I mess you up some then you'll see straight and help, right?"**

"Translator, what'd she just say?" Yagami asks.

"Um… She's upset, doesn't like you and thinks if she beats us up we'll see reason and help her out."

"I don't even know what she wants!" Yagami protests.

"Back up," I tell her.

"Why?"

A small, fist-sized meteor falls from the sky and collides with Yagami's skull. Instead of the expected blood and brain matter, Yagami just disappears.

"… Well how about that?" I say.

"Hell of a reaction to someone probably dying in front of you," Yagami's voice says from somewhere behind me.

"I mean, it probably wasn't you, so…"

"At least show some concern," Yagami says. "It was just an illusion I sent to scout around for you, sure, but please stop being so unflappably calm. It's freaking me out."

"Is that so?"

"Yes, that is so. Now let's focus on the important part of this, taking out this witch."

"… Right. Where'd she go?" I ask.

We don't get a chance to look as more meteors begin falling. Me and Yagami jump back and begin weaving our way around the various chunks of rock.

"Hey Skimpy, think you can do anything about the meteors?" I ask.

"There's a few too many too- Skimpy?! It's not like I enjoy this outfit! You think I like jumping around like an idiot in an outfit that covers what's important and not much else?"

"So that's a no," I say. Hmm. Where'd Miss Moon Princess even go? Wait, these rocks need to be coming from somewhere so… I hold my spear out in front of me and start spinning it like a fan to deflect any incoming meteors and buy me some time to look. … There, way up there. Miss Moon Princess is up there, calling down some rocks to fall on us.

"Yagami, the Moon Princess is up there," I tell her.

Yagami shoots a meteor to deflect and looks up.

"Right. Okay, so how do we get up there?"

"Can you shoot her from this distance?"

"Easily, but," Yagami shoots another few meteors. A copy of her appears right besides her and shoots a few that she missed. "I'm a little busy making sure I don't get hit."

So how do we get up there? I can't throw Yagami up there like I threw Inugami at the Raven witch, Yagami would get beaten within an inch of her life by all the incoming meteors. … Maybe…

"Yagami, I need an opening," I tell her.

"You got a plan or something?" she asks.

"No, I have an idea. It's not anywhere complicated enough to call a plan. How many other yous can you have up at once?"

"Seven, if we count the original me," she answers. "One clone is about the limit of what I can control comfortably, but six clones is doable."

"And how many shots can you get off at once?"

"Six shot revolver," she says. "It takes a few seconds before the automatic reload kicks in, but I should be able to fire 42 shots at any one time."

"One shot per meteor?" I ask.

"I'm almost disappointed you're not asking me for a tougher challenge," Yagami says with a smirk.

Five other Yagami's join the original and the first clone. They start taking aim and fire. 42 shots get fired, and 40 different meteors are shot off course and away from us.

"Damn it, I missed some!" one of the clones calls out.

"That's fine," I say, closing one eye, holding up a thumb and aiming my spear. "And here we go."

I toss my spear as hard as I can and it flies straight and true, piercing the tiny doll's body. She's knocked off of her moon chair and falls to the ground. The moon, now without it's pilot, crashes straight to the ground and breaks into a several large chunks. My spear finds it's way to the ground, stabbing into the ground amidst the moon's rubble. Miss Moon Princess's body is still attached to the spear. Her face has changed again. Unlike the previous wounded expression, now the face shows something resembling complete terror.

**"I-I'm sorry! I'm sorry I tried to hurt you!"** The witch begins begging.** "Alice help me! Alice, please help me, I'm scared!"**

The face breaks off again and becomes a sorrowful, tear filled expression.

Yagami walks up to Luna and presses the barrel of her revolver against the witch's face.

"I'm sorry," Yagami says. "I'm so, so sorry."

Yagami pulls the trigger and a loud bang fills my ears as the doll's head explodes into pieces. The world returns to normal as the barrier fades, following the witch's death. Yagami changes back into her street clothes. She bends over and picks up Luna's grief seed. She looks at it, then offers it to me. I shake my head. Yagami hesitates, then takes her soul gem out and presses the grief seed to it. Her soul gem, a calming shade of blue, is cleansed as the corruption flows into the grief seed. Yagami sighs and slips the seed into her pocket.

"Still got another use or two left," she says. "Not really a resource we can afford to waste."

I don't say anything.

"It doesn't get any easier, you know," she tells me. "No matter how many of them I fight, I keep thinking about how they used to be just like me, and how eventually I'll be just like them."

"Is that so?" I ask, not really listening to her.

"It's worse for you, isn't it?" she asks. "No memory means you're starting from scratch and you have to get used to all this killing over again. Not to mention you were talking with her right before she turned, weren't you? That can't have made it any easier."

I shake my head.

"What were you talking about?" Yagami asks.

"She was looking for her friend, Yukari I think was her name," I say. "They were running from someone."

"That's probably why she was as beat up as you said she was at your house," Yagami says.

"So should we just go back?" I ask. "Go tell Inugami and Inko what happened?"

"I imagine they're wondering where we are at this point," Yagami says. "Yeah, let's go back."

I nod back and turn to walk balk, only to collide with some unknown person and get knocked down to the ground.

"Owowow," some unknown person says.

"Scarlet, you okay?" Yagami asks as she pulls me up.

"I'm fine, who's the new girl?"

New girl, who was currently sitting on the ground after running into me, had shoulder length brown hair and matching eyes. She was wearing a Pink sweater and black skirt, along with a pair of brown boots. I was perfectly ready to accept her as the first normal girl I've met since I lost my memories, but then I noticed she was wearing the telltale ring sitting on her finger.

"Have I been cursed to only know other magical girls?" I ask.

"Who knows who you may have pissed off in a past life," Yagami says with a shrug.

"Who are- Aah!" the girl starts scooting backwards to try and put some distance between us. "You're with Deus's group, aren't you! You're searching for me and Tsukihime!"

"… Who the hell are Deus and Tsukihime?" Yagami asks me.

"I dunno, but the other girl did mention a Deus," I tell her.

"Huh? Other girl? Did she have short blue hair?" the girl asks me, standing up to look me in the eye. "Blue dress, with a red ribbon? Maybe a few wounds?"

… Oh dear.

"So, I assume you're Yukari?" I ask. "She mentioned that name."

"Y-yes! I'm Yukari!" the girl announces. "Where'd she go? Where'd Miss Tsukihime go?"

"Scarlet she's not talking about-"

"Yep. I'm afraid so."

"H-huh? Afraid? What's there to be afraid of?" Yukari asks.

Me and Yagami look at each other. Yagami sighs and pull the grief seed at of her pocket. She hands it over to Yukari who looks at it in confusion.

"This is… a grief seed…" Yukari notes. "Why are you… N… No, you can't be saying…"

I take a step forward and put a hand on her shoulder.

"I'm sorry, but she's dead," I tell her. "She turned into a witch and we had to put her out of her misery."

"N-no that can't… That's not… We were supposed to get away from them together, weren't we, Yoko? Weren't we? Yoko, you can't be dead!"

"Ah, now that's a right shame, inn't it?"

"Another one?" I ask, turning to meet our new visitor.

This one had purple eyes and long purpleish hair with a small white hat sitting on top of it. She was wearing a purple shirt with white sleeves, and her skirt actually had two layers to it, an outer white layer and the inner purple layer.

"Y-Yuki," Yukari addresses the new girl as she takes several steps away from her. "What are you doing here?"

"Aw, don't ask questions like that," Yuki says. "No real point in asking a question if you already know the answer after all."

"I don't know the answer to the question," I say, raising my hand.

"Well it's not exactly any of your business sooooo…" Yuki trails off.

"She's here to get me and Yok- Miss Tsukihime," Yukari tells me.

"Bingo! Want a prize?" Yukari asks.

"Is it a good prize?" I ask.

"Scarlet, she's not serious," Yagami informs me. "She probably means she's going to try and kill us or something."

"Is that so?" I ask.

"So it is," Yuki confirms. "I'm here to kill Yukari and Yoko, and I can't exactly let you two get in the way of that. Well, considering what happened to that idiotic, blue-haired bitch, there's one less thing for me to worry about."

"Take that back!" Yukari yells at Yuki. "Miss Tsukihime was one of the nicest people I've ever known!"

"And now she's dead," Yuki says. "Shows how far that kind of personality gets you. But I'm digressing. Hey, you two."

"Us?" Yagami asks.

"Yeah. Technically speaking I don't have any reason to kill you at the moment, so if you two could just sort of close your eyes, plug your ears and ignore the scene about to unfold, that would be immensely helpful for everyone," Yuki says.

"You want us to just leave this girl with you?" Yagami asks, to which Yuki nods.

"If you could just do that, like I said, it would be immensely helpful," Yuki responds. "How about it?"

"The answer is no, right?" I ask Yagami.

"Right," she replies, transforming back into her magical girl outfit.

"You heard her," I tell Yuki. "We're not going to let you kill Yukari."

"Alright," Yuki says with a sigh. "Look Blondie, I'm not here to fight you. In all honesty I'm not even here to kill Yukari. I'm here to grab the girl and head back to Boss for a mission accomplished. Well, not the best mission accomplished possible, considering Yoko's dead, but you know what I'm saying. If you could just take your exhibitionist friend and walk away then this goes smoothly."

"E-exhibitionist?!" Yagami exclaims.

"Sure, but the problem with that is, then I'm leaving Yukari with you, and I don't exactly trust you," I tell Yuki.

I feel a sudden pain in my right shoulder and see that a large hole appeared out of nowhere. Yuki smiles and tightens her grip on a shard of ice.

"Then that means we get to do this the fun way."

Several icicles form behind her and suddenly fire at us. I spin my spear and deflect the icicles like I did the meteorites from earlier. Yagami shoots the icicles aimed at her, while Yukari hits the ground to dodge.

"Oh, I get it," I say. "Your name's Yuki, and you have ice powers. Clever."

"I know, it's a pretty cool coincidence, ain't it?" Yuki says with a grin.

"… Please tell me the pun wasn't intentional," Yukari begs.

"And if it was?" Yuki asks.

"I'll probably cry myself to sleep," Yukari says.

"Allow me to help you out with that," Yuki gets ready to fire another volley of projectile ice, but she's interrupted by Yagami firing her gun.

*BANG*

"… Yagami you missed," I tell her.

"I did no such thing!" She yells at me.

I mean, she's technically right. What happened was that a large chunk of ice came out of the ground and caught the bullet.

"I've grown pretty adept at freezing bullets out of midair," Yuki tells us. "I have Boss shoot at me every now and then to keep the skill sharp. It's useful, as you can see."

"Does that experience work with little girls leaping at you with a spear?" I ask her.

"Want to find out?" Yuki asks as she holds up her hand and lets some snowflakes fall from it for effect.

I hop forward slightly, and another chunk of ice forms in front of Yuki. This time I actually take the leap forward and break through the ice wall with ease. I swing my spear at Yuki, who blocks using a large sword made out of ice. I swing again, this time breaking through her sword. She ducks down and just barely dodges the blade, then creates another sword out of ice and swings it, which I block it with the shaft of my spear. Yuki jumps back and freezes the air in front of her to catch the bullets Yagami just fired.

"Come on, two versus one? Hardly seems fair," Yuki says.

Yagami runs towards Yuki and swings her pistol at her head. Yuki blocks, the pistol colliding with her wrist, then ducks and narrowly manages to dodge a shot from a fake Yagami.

"It's really more of a three on one, if you think about it," Yagami corrects.

"What a piss-off. Then again, I wouldn't be Boss's right hand girl if I couldn't handle a simple street fight," Yuki says.

"This is a bit more then a street fight," I reply.

"Fight's a fight, inn't it?" Yuki asks. "S'long as I'm trying to kill you and you're trying to kill me, why's it matter?"

Yuki whirls around, adding some ice to her weapon and turning it into a large hammer, and smacks the fake Yagami across the face. While her back is turned I close the distance between us once again. She uses the momentum of her earlier swing to turn around quickly and intercept my spear with her hammer. The two weapons bounce off of each other, and Yuki again uses the momentum to her advantage to spin some more and kick me in the face. Some of the ice melts off her hammer and it turns back into a sword. She swings at Yagami who manages to just barely twist her body in a way that causes the blade to miss. The swing is followed by seven ice projectiles, with Yagami shooting six of them down and her illusion friend taking care of the last one.

I stab at Yuki with my spear, but she pivots and manages to dodge it. She steps close to me and tries to stab me with a small ice dagger. I smack her across the face with the shaft of my spear which throws her aim off just enough for the dagger to miss. She leans back which allows her to dodge the bullets fired at her by both Yagamis. I plant my spear on the ground and spin around it to build up the momentum and deliver a good kick to Yuki's stomach. Yuki is sent flying back a bit, and lands on her back. She jumps to her feet to continue the fight, but stops when an arrow plants itself in the ground in front of her.

"Enough," Yukari says, pointing a bow at Yuki. "Leave us alone."

"Ah man, four on one?" Yuki asks, scratching the back of her head. "What's the point of a fight if you're going to tilt the odds that far in one direction? Justa bunch of cowards ganging up on some poor victim by that point."

"You hardly qualify for the position of victim," I tell her.

"Ah, it's all semantics anyway," Yuki says with a shrug. "Guess I'll have to report back to Boss and tell her the mission was a failure."

"G-good! Never come after me again!" Yukari yells at her.

"Not happening, obviously," Yuki says as she turns around and starts walking off. "Take care everyone, we'll meet again soon."

Her parting words said, Yuki leaps up to the top of the building, before leaping from roof to roof until she eventually disappears from sight. Once Yuki was gone, Yukari fell to her knees.

"Thank God," Yukari says. "She's gone."

"Is God the one she should be thanking?" I ask Yagami. "I don't really remember seeing him fighting Yuki."

"It's an expression," Yagami explains to me. "A figure of speech."

"Is that so? Well, Yukari, are you okay?"

"Don't ask about me, what about you?" she asks. "Didn't Yuki shoot some ice through your shoulder earlier? Here, let me see it, I'm good with healing magic."

Yukari walks over to me and starts examining my shoulder.

"Huh? But I saw the ice dig straight through," she says.

"What, did it already heal or something?" Yagami asks.

"I guess so," Yukari says. "There's no sign of there being any wound at all. Do you have healing powers as well?"

"I dunno," I reply. "I just know that this means there's no reason for you to avoid my question. Are you okay?"

"… No," she replies, after a brief bit of hesitation. "No I'm not. My only friend is dead, and every magical girl in Japan is going to be after my head within minutes."

"Come on, don't exaggerate," Yagami says. "Stuff like that just freaks us out. Well, freaks me out. This one could be at ground zero when aliens invade and wouldn't so much as blink."

"I resent that statement," I tell her. "I can't not blink, it's an involuntary action."

"You completely missed the point I was trying to make, but whatever," Yagami says.

"You think I'm exaggerating?" Yukari asks. "I've pissed Her off, and so she's going to send all sorts of horrible people after me until I'm dead."

"This Deus chick, right?" Yagami asks. "That group's been popping up quite a bit in recent memory. I mean, magical girl team ups are hardly common, so a group's probably, what, five magical girls? Got to be six at the absolute most."

"It doesn't matter how many She has," Yukari says. "I don't know the exact number, and knowing wouldn't really do much. I'm the one She's after, so I should take my leave. I appreciate the help you two have given, but it's better if we part ways. Thank you for everything."

Yukari turns around to walk off, but I grab the back of her collar.

"H-hey!" Yukari protests. "What are you doing?"

"Come along, we're heading back to my house," I tell her. "Dinner's almost ready."

"Isn't it still really early?" Yukari asks.

"Yeah, it's probably more like lunch," Yagami says.

"Then we'll have lunch," I correct. "Plus I imagine Inko and Inugami would be eager to help you out."

"Yeah, you're probably right," Yagami says. Yukari opens her mouth to protest, but Yagami covers her mouth and continues. "We intervened and helped you out, so that means we're a target just as much as you. As such, we're going to bring in our friends and talk this thing over, okay?"

Yukari remains silent, before nodding her head.

"I'm really not in a position where I can complain about help," Yukari says, sounding somewhat resigned to her fate. "Instead I suppose I'll just say thank you."

"Don't mention it," Yagami says. "We're hardly people who can just sit around when someone's in trouble like you were."

… Where's Inko for translation? I want to hear what Yagami really means by that. Well, regardless of whatever she's actually saying, she's pretty much right. I don't really feel good just leaving someone be. Gripping Yukari's collar tightly, I start leading her back home for a group discussion about just what's going on here.


	4. Chapter 4: That's the Problem, Isn't It?

**Author Notes:**

Pretty slow chapter. Just Yukari expositioning about the stuff that forms what is basically the main conflict of this story. So yeah, that's our plot for the rest of the story. Five magical girls going up against the magical girl Yakuza. Now you're probably wondering "Where did you come up with such a stupid idea for a story?" … Well, you're probably not wondering that because that would mean you're actually reading this story and I know no one would waste their time on this. The answer to that hypothetical question is… I dunno. All the characters in the story were in place from day one, but I have no idea where the idea for a magical girl Yakuza came from. Not a one. Deus was always in it. Yuki was always in it. No idea where the idea came from to have them be part of this huge organization of magical girls.

One thing I kind of liked about this chapter was that it mentioned a lot of characters who won't have much screen time. Yuki got name dropped, and you'll be seeing some more of her obviously but she's not a major character. Yoko Tsukihime from last chapter got mentioned, but she's obviously not important anymore. Deus got mentioned, but she's the final boss so she's not showing up until near the end. Alice was mentioned once or twice, but she doesn't matter. She really only existed to give Tsukihime and Yukari an end goal and potential reason to think that they could escape. She's also witched out about a month or two before the story started, so she definitely won't be showing up.

Since this was a slower chapter, the author notes aren't going to take up a whole page and distract from the actual story. Huzzah! Feel free to leave any feedback or comments. See you guys next week.

**Chapter 4: "That's the problem, isn't it?"**

"I'm back," I say as I walk through the door to my house.

"Welcome ba-" my mom pauses when she sees me, Yagami and Yukari walk through the door. "Have we not already done this today?"

"Repetition helps a forgetful mind," I explain.

"I don't think that applies in a case like this," she says with a sigh. "So then, who's your new friend?"

"M-my name is Yukari," she says with a bow. "I'm sorry for intruding."

"Please, you're the fourth girl our daughter has brought home today," my father says, joining in the conversation. "It hardly qualifies as an intrusion anymore."

"Perhaps turning our home into an inn or bed and breakfast of some kind isn't a bad idea," my mother muses. "But enough of that talk. Everyone else is still in your room, and the food will be ready soon."

"Thank you very much," I tell her before dragging Yagami and Yukari up to my room. I reach for the doorknob and freeze just millimeters before I grab it.

"What's the matter?" Yagami asks.

"I don't know. I just had the feeling that if I opened this door something potentially awful would happen. … Yagami, you go first."

"W-wait, why me?!"

Instead of answering I open my door and shove Yagami inside.

"WELCOME BACK!"

Inko shouts at the top of her lungs and embraces Yagami in a very tight hug.

"Aaaah! I-Inko, what are you doing?!"

"I'm welcoming you back!" she says. "Inugami was generous enough to instruct me in the proper way to welcome someone back from an important mission."

"Inugami!" Yagami yells in anger. "Why are you teaching her this kind of stuff?"

"I thought it'd be funny," Inugami says with a giggle from her position on my bed. "And if Scarlet had opened the door and gotten the hug instead then it still would have been funny."

"Good thing I shoved Yagami through the door first," I say as I walk over and sit on the bed next to Inugami. "I'd hate to be suffocated."

"So what happened?" Inugami asks, shifting the conversation to a more important matter. "I see we've got a new guest. How'd that one work out?"

"My name is Yukari," Yukari repeats. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Name's Inugami, pleasure's all mine."

"I'm Inko!" the hyper one says, finally allowing Yagami to breathe again. "I look forward to working with you!"

"Wrong one," Yagami says. "At least, for now it's the wrong one."

"Is it?" Inko says. She puts a hand to her chin and starts to think. "Ah! Pleasure ****ing you!"

Yagami, Yukari and Inugami's faces all turn varying shades of red.

"I-I-I-I'm sorry but I'm saving myself for Yok- I mean, I don't swing that way!" Yukari insists.

"What the hell have you been teaching this poor girl?!" Inugami asks Yagami.

"I didn't teach her that! Inko! Wh-where did you even learn dialogue like that?!" Yagami exclaims.

"Oh? Was that one also wrong?" Inko asks, her head tilted to one side. "I remember reading that phrase somewhere online. Did I perhaps misunderstand the context?"

"Inko, I specifically told you to stay off the internet!" Yagami chastises her friend. "This is exactly why! You learn things that make everything very awkward for everyone around you!"

"Inugami, what's wrong with what she said?" I ask. "I don't recognize the word she used."

"I'll tell you later," Inugami says. "For now, just know it's not a good word to use in polite company."

"Is that so?" I ask.

"Yes," Inugami confirms. "Now, topic at hand. What the hell happened after Scarlet left through the window?"

Me and Yagami take turns explaining what happened after I jumped out the window. We told Inko and Inugami about how I ran into the bloodied girl, Yoko Tsukihime apparently, and the conversation I had with her before she turned into the moon witch. We explained how after the fight with the witch we ran into Yukari and Yuki, and what resulted from that fight.

"And that's about it," Yagami finishes up.

"Hmmm…" Inko appears to be very deep in thought about something.

"What's the matter Inko?" I ask.

"Oh, don't mind me," she says. She stands up and heads for the door. "Talk among yourselves. I'll be in the bathroom if you need me."

Inko exits and leaves us alone.

"What she actually means is 'Something about this is really bugging me and I need some time to think about it on my own,'" Yagami translates for us.

"Ah, the translations work both ways," I note.

"So then what's your deal?" Inugami asks Yukari. "Sounds like something big went down. What exactly was your claim? Every magical girl in Japan is going to be coming down on you soon? What could you have done to bring that upon yourself?"

"I tried to leave," Yukari answers. "Me and Yo- Miss Tsukihime tried to leave, and that's not something that they allow."

"Am I the only one thinking that that's not an answer?" I ask the other two.

"I mean, from an objective standpoint it is an answer," Yagami says.

"The problem is that it isn't a good one," Inugami finishes for her. "Yukari, we can't exactly do anything if you don't tell us anything. We need you to be a little bit more specific."

"… Alright then," Yukari concedes. "I'm not a magical girl who works on her own. I'm actually part of a group… Perhaps that's underselling it. A more accurate comparison is that I'm an underling in the magical girl yakuza."

"Waitwaitwaitwait," Yagami interrupts. "Magical girl yakuza? Like, the yakuza… but everyone's a magical girl?"

Yukari nods. "We're a huge collection of sorts. We take in magical girls who are lost and near death and recruit them into our ranks. We eliminate every witch and other threat we find and organize the grief seeds to make sure every magical girl has enough to live without fear of witching out. It's an incredibly organized affair and to my knowledge there's never been an occasion where a magical has ever died due to an accident, or a mistake in grief seed distribution. Joining is a guarantee that you'll never become a witch."

"Is that so?" I ask. "It sounds pretty nice."

"The key phrase there is 'died due to an accident,' right?" Inugami asks.

"Right," Yukari confirms. "You're guaranteed enough grief seeds to keep your soul gem clean at all times, but only if you do exactly what you're told. If you step out of line, you're put down and the group continues running like nothing every happened. They roll your corpse out of the way and run business as usual. You're not made an example of, you're simply erased from history."

"Holy crap," Yagami says. "Well, what about any friends or family that those people have? What are they told? Wouldn't that prompt some sort of investigation from someone?"

"You think any of us would join that group if we had anything as nice as that?" Yukari asks coldly. "No one notices we're gone when we're killed, and no one cares. It's just that kind of group."

"Well, like you said, all they do is eliminate witches and other threats, right?" Inugami asks. "It doesn't seem like the kind of orders you'd be keen on disobeying. It's what we're doing as magical girls anyway, isn't it?"

"But what exactly are those other threats mentioned? That's the problem, isn't it?" I respond.

"Exactly right," Yukari confirms. "Witches are easy to deal with. Other people? Other girls who are only guilty because your boss told you they are? Those are harder to deal with. It's a lot harder to have your boss point at someone and say 'kill them' then it is to be thrown into a witch's labyrinth and told to survive. I don't know how many of the magical girls I've killed are innocent. Maybe they were all psychotic murders. All I have to go on is my boss's word for it."

"And you grew sick of it and tried to flee, is that right?" Yagami asks.

"Ha! I'm happy you think I could be brave enough to even think about something like that," Yukari says with a sad laugh. "No. I'm far too much of a coward. I'd do whatever they said because I was far too terrified of what they would do to me if I didn't. It was Miss Tsukihime who convinced me that we had to escape. She was the only person I was really close to in the group, and she eventually convinced me that we could escape. She said that she had a friend who wasn't affiliated with the group who could help us, and protect us from whatever the group would try to do. Before you ask, all I know is that Miss Tsukihime called her Alice. I don't know anything about her, where she lived, what she looked like or what she could do. All I know is that Miss Tsukihime assured me over and over that she could help us, that there's now way she'd turn us down because they were best friends and that nothing the group sent our way would be able to do so much as put a single scratch on her. From what I could tell, Miss Tsukihime was completely head over heels for that girl considering how much she talked about her. Not that it matters now."

"Okay so, let me sum it up," Yagami says. "Jackass group, you tried to flee with a friend to safety, they sent Frostbite after you. That's what we now know."

"So then how does Deus fit into it?" I ask. "Considering you called it 'Deus's group' I suppose she's the leader?"

Yukari nods. "She's the top of the pyramid, the head magical girl, the one who started the group in the first place. She's not keen on the idea of anyone actually leaving the group. It poses security issues if that person was ever caught or leaked information or something. I don't personally understand it. We're a bunch of magical girls, not the mob. What information is there to leak? I don't get it, but it means that if you try to leave, she makes certain you don't live long. She makes sure that all the rules she sets forth are followed exactly."

"How so?" Inugami asks. "Is she some super strong magical girl who slaps around anyone who doesn't listen?"

"I don't know," Yukari says with a shrug. "I have to assume she's pretty tough if she's running this particular operation, but no one really knows for certain. I believe the official explanation for that is that anyone who actually fights her is killed before they even get a chance to know what her power is. Personally I think it's just because she's too lazy and has her subordinates do all the work for her. She just waves a hand and twenty different magical girls leap at the chance to do her bidding. Well, in my case it was only the one."

"Frostbite mentioned being the right hand girl, right?" Yagami asks. "Did you happen to do anything that would make someone like that upset with you?"

"Like I said, it's a very organized thing," Yukari says. "We have plenty of groups, all with their own leader. Yuki happened to be mine and Miss Tsukihime's boss, so she was sent to clean up the mess she allowed to happen."

"And I imagine she'll be coming back to finish her business?" Inugami asks.

"Most likely," Yukari affirms. "I'm sure she won't hesitate to kill you people as well, so it's for the best if I leave. She'll kill me off, and you can all go on with your lives."

"Hang on a second!" Inugami interjects. "You think we're the type of people who'll throw someone under the bus just to save our own skins?"

"It's not like that," Yukari begins. "If I stick around, then you'll be killed along with me. Even if we take care of Yuki, Deus will just send more and more magical girls at us until we're killed. The more we take out, the more of a threat we become and things just get worse and worse until we're killed. If I leave then Yuki kills me, and everything continues on as it would normally and no one else gets hurt."

"Is that so?" I ask.

"So it is," Yukari says with a nod. "None of us even knew each other until right now. We hardly have the kind of bond that would make helping me seem like a good idea, so why do you even care?"

"I don't," I tell her.

"Scarlet?!" Inugami sounds shocked.

"I don't know you, Yukari. I don't know a lot of things at the moment. That said, I know that leaving someone on their own when I could help them makes me feel really sick. So no, I don't care that I don't know you, but I do want to help."

"Why?!" Yukari asks. "You're just going to get yourself killed!"

"Then I suppose we'll just have to win," I say.

"Scarlet, it's hardly that simple," Inugami says. "Like the girl said, the more we win the harder it gets because they'll just keep sending more and more magical girls at us. What we would need to do is either completely demolish the organization soul gem by soul gem, or remove the leader."

"You're going to help doggy?" I ask.

"I'm worried about what'll happen if I leave you alone," Inugami replies. "And considering you've already resolved to help Yukari out then I might as well chip in and do whatever I can."

"Is that so… Thank you, Inugami," I tell her.

"Don't mention it," she says. "What about you, Yagami?"

"What about me?" Yagami asks in return.

"What are you and Inko planning on doing?" Inugami clarifies. "You gonna stick around and help out or skip town and avoid this problem?"

"I know what I want to do, but I'd need to discuss it with Inko first," Yagami says. "I can't do either option on my own because that means I'd be leaving Inko to her own devices and that blockhead wouldn't last a week without someone to be there and actually tell her how things work."

"Yes! Inko would likely not last very long without Miku!" Inko announces as she walk through the door.

"Inko! When'd you get back?" Yagami asks.

"Perhaps… Around the time the conversation first mentioned a magical girl yakuza?" Inko offers.

"So, you never left?" I ask.

"Precisely correct!" Inko says with a smile. "The bathroom was simply a pretense for me to wait just outside and think about various things that I've been concerned about."

"And what were you thinking about?" I ask.

"Hmmm… I wonder," Inko says with that smile still attached to her face.

"Well you're here now, so what do you think?" Yagami asks. "What do you want to do, Inko?"

"I wish to stay," Inko says. "There are quite a few things I wish to learn more about and confirm, and leaving before that would trouble me greatly."

"So there we go," Yagami says. "Me and Inko are stuck here with you guys, fighting off a bunch of jackass magical girls. How did this happen? I just wanted to stop by this town for a bit, grab a few grief seeds and move on. Now I've got an amnesiac, a runaway and an army to deal with."

"I just wanted to go shopping," Inugami says. "I was just heading to the store for some eggs and now all this. Not exactly how I pictured my day going."

"So what are we going to do?" I ask. "I hope our plan isn't to wait until they show up at our door."

"No, definitely not," Inugami says. "Hmmm. Well first off, if you can avoid it, never go out alone. We're using the buddy system from now on. If you're out there alone and one of those goons gets the drop on you then there really isn't anything that can be done, but having a partner increases survivability."

"I'm reasonably certain that more magical girls survived when paired up then they do when on their own," Inko says. "Beyond that I imagine survival rates start dropping."

"Alright, teams of two whenever possible," Yagami says. "There's only five of us though. I suppose we'll have to work out some kind of system. Maybe a pair then a team of three? I dunno."

"Those are detail we can work out later," Inugami says. "I think we should probably go out on patrols, or something."

"Right, we can take out any witches we find and hopefully avoid being caught off guard by sitting around the same place all the time," Yagami agrees.

"Maybe we should exchange numbers as well," Yukari says. "If we run into Yuki or anyone else I'd like to be able to call for backup."

"I don't have a cellphone," Inko says. "Ah! Miku has one!"

"Scarlet, do you have a phone?" Inugami asks me. I shrug. "Right, don't know what I expected. Well, we can work out some kind of thing where Scarlet or Inko is always with someone who has a phone. That sounds pretty good, right?"

*knock knock knock*

"Hello?" my mom says, opening the door a bit. "I'm not interrupting anything, am I?"

Besides discussing how we're going to take down a magical crime syndicate?

"No, nothing," I tell her.

"Good. The food's ready," she informs us. "There's enough for everyone, so don't assume you need to rush down and claim your share."

"Sounds good," Inugami says. "We'll be down in a minute."

My mom nods and closes the door, leaving us to our own devices.

"Okay, serious talk over," Inugami says. "Food time now, serious stuff later."

"I agree!" Inko says. "My stomach is feeling rather empty since I haven't eaten in a while. Let's go Miku!"

"H-hey wait, don't drag me!"

Inugami, Yagami and Inko all departed for the food leaving me and Yukari alone.

"I still don't get it," Yukari says. "We only met today, not even half an hour ago. Why are you all so intent on helping me?"

"Hmmm… I wonder," I say. "Well, I can't say much about them, but I don't like the idea of not helping you, as I already said. If I can help someone out, I don't see why I shouldn't."

"That can't be it," Yukari says. "You have to have some kind of reason. Why bother helping me when you wouldn't benefit from it at all?"

"I don't really think I need a reason to help someone," I tell her.

"…" Yukari remains silent, like she's thinking about something. "Thank you. I know I may not sound as grateful as I should, but I really mean it. I just don't want to see anyone get hurt. I just wanted to have this entire situation resolve itself as cleanly as possible."

"We don't always get that lucky," I tell her. "… Are you okay?"

"What's with that?" she asks.

"You still seem really down. Are you feeling okay? … It's about your friend, isn't it?"

"N-No! Why would I be sad about that?" Yukari asks. "There wasn't anything I could do about it. I don't see a point in being sad about something you can't affect."

"Liar."

Yukari looks down at the floor and doesn't respond.

"Do you want a little time to yourself?" I ask her. "Some time to get your thoughts in order?"

She nods her head slightly. I get up and head out of my room, making sure to close the door behind me. It took maybe a few seconds before I could hear Yukari sobbing on the other side of my door. I sigh and walk off. I want to go back in and comfort her or something but I don't know how. For now I suppose I'll leave her alone. I'll bring back some food for her. It probably won't do much to cheer her up, but it won't make the situation any worse. That thought in mind, I headed down to the dinner table where everyone else was already eating.

"Inko! Hands off my share of the food!"

"But isn't it a customary friendship ritual to share food?"

"Not in this scenario!"

"She's right Inko. What you need to do is spoonfeed your food to her."

"Really? Understood! Yagami, say 'aaaah.'"

"You don't have to feed me! Dang it Inugami, why are you teaching her weird things?"

"Because it's funny."

"What a lively crowd," I muse as I take a seat next to Inugami.

"I can't recall the last time we had such a loud meal," my mother says.

"I can't either," my father agrees. "It's kind of nice."

"Is that so?" I ask. "Maybe I should go outside again. I'm sure I'd be able to pick up another couple of girls to bring home for dinner."

"Scarlet, perhaps it's best to not bring up 'picking up girls' in front of your parents," Inugami informs me.

"Huh? Why?"

"If nothing else for my sanity, try not to go picking up a bunch more girls," Inugami says. "We've got enough to deal with, and all we have is those two and Yukari."

"Okay then. For Inugami's sake I won't pick up any more girls," I say.

"H-hey now, when you word it like that-"

"Oh, so you're saying you'd rather just be with Inugami?" Yagami asks.

"Yagami, don't say things that can be easily misinterpreted!" Inugami yells.

"It's revenge!" Yagami says. "Revenge for teaching Inko weird things!"

"It seems I'll need to escalate things," Inugami says. "If you're going to attempt revenge in such a way, I'll just need to start teaching her even more weird things."

"You wouldn't."

"Wanna try me?"

"Those two get along so well!" Inko declares happily.

"They certainly do," I agree. "If I didn't know any better I'd say that they were the couple here."

"As if I would ever be this annoying dog's girlfriend," Yagami snarls.

"As if I could ever stand more then a few minutes with this idiot," Inugami growls.

"Dog."

"Idiot."

"Dog."

"Idiot."

I frown.

"What's wrong, Scarlet?" Inko asks.

"I'm disappointed. Earlier when we did that teasing thing about couples they got all embarrassed. It was cute. Now they just keep insulting each other."

"Hmm. You're right," Inko notes. "Maybe only certain trigger phrases work on them. … Ah! I've figured out a good phrase to try. Ahem. 'Oh Scarlet, whatever are you talking about? Obviously me and Miku are the couple here!'"

"E-eh?! C-c-c-c-c-couple?" Yagami finally breaks away from her argument with my dog and starts blushing.

"I mean it was always obvious," Inugami adds, sounding rather smug. "I was just trying to help it along."

"Shouldn't you be less worried about other couples and more focused on us?" I ask Inugami.

"Eh? U-u-u-u-u-us? Thereisnouswhywouldyoupossiblythinkthatwe'renotacoupleoranythinglikethatIonlyjustmetyouand-"

Inugami continues her high speed rambling as I go back to eating my food, my experiment having provided some interesting results.

"Wow, this is really good," I say. "Mom, you're a very good cook."

"Thank you Sweat Pea," my mom says, sounding rather unsure. "Maybe quiet meals are better after all."

"I can't say I disagree," my father says. "I get the feeling we'll be stuck with this for a while though."

"Well, at least things will be more interesting," mom admits.

"So who's going to go with who?" Yagami asks our small group.

"Go where?" my father asks.

"We were thinking of going out shopping for a bit," Inugami picks up for Yagami. "Our new friend, Yukari, is feeling a bit down so we though we'd hit a few stores and see if we could cheer her up. We were going to split up to cover more ground that way."

"We were thinking of a group of two and a group of three," Yagami comes back into the conversation. "The problem is, Inko doesn't have a cell phone, and Scarlet doesn't know if she has one so they can't be alone with each other."

"Sweat Pea, why don't you go with Yagami and Yukari?" my mother suggests. "You and Yagami were the first ones to meet her, right? I imagine she'd be more comfortable with you two then with someone she doesn't know at all."

"… Yeah, that sounds pretty good," Inugami says.

"Considering the circumstances that is the most logical conclusion to draw," Inko says.

"Why the disappointment?" I ask.

"I'm not disappointed," Inugami replies.

"Disappointment isn't an emotion I have any experience with," Inko says.

"They didn't get the partners they wanted," Yukari says, coming down the stairs and taking a seat at the table.

"You alright?" Yagami asks.

"I'm fine," Yukari says. "I've got my thoughts in order a bit, I'll live."

"Is that so?" I ask.

"So it is," Yukari affirms.

"That being the case, what do you mean by not getting the partners they wanted?" I ask.

"To preserve their privacy, I'll just say this. I'm good at healing wounds. Broken hearts at significantly harder to repair."

"Wh-wh-what broken heart?!" Inugami asks.

"My heart is perfectly intact I'll have you know!" Inko says.

"Sweetie, have you always had friends that are so… volatile?" my dad asks. I shrug in response.

"Right, so once we're done with the food we head out!" Yagami declares.

"She means 'please wait for me to finish before leaving,'" Inko translates.

"I'm not going to contest that," Yagami says before digging into her food.

"Nor am I," Inugami agrees, eating her food with equal ferocity.

"Let's get ready for some shopping then," I say before returning to my food.

"Thank you for the food!" Inko announces.

"… Thank you for the food," Yukari also declares.

"Honey," Dad asks.

"Yes, dear?" Mom responds.

"We'll have enough food for all of our daughter's friends when they come over, right?"

"Well, we can hope."


	5. Chapter 5: Are You Okay?

**Author Notes:**

Hmmm, a character with short, silver hair, named Sakuya in a story where the lead is based on Flandre Scarlet… Huh, what a coincidence! Yeah, her name being Sakuya wasn't intentional. Her name was originally something else, but then I had another idea for a character named Sakuya who doesn't show up in this story, and I repurposed the name for her. What's Sakuya's role in the story? Find out next week!

Also, backstory and bonding for both Inugami and Yagami. I had both those backstories thought out for them, but I didn't really have anyway in the story where they could be brought up so I became worried that it would forever be stuck in my head. Then I realized I could totally squeeze it in here! A little shoehorned, sure, but I think it worked pretty well and did a good job highlighting the similarities between the two. Yeah, they're very similar characters, and that was kind of intentional. It made writing the occasional banter between them a lot more fun. I also liked that backstory sharing because it's more or less the only backstory that would get told in that fashion. I mean, Yukari's backstory is pretty easy to imagine, and Inko, Yuki, Sakuya and Scarlet don't really have backstories. Well, Yuki does, but that's not important. Well, Sakuya does too, but that's also not important. Inko doesn't. Scarlet kind of does, but not really.

Anyway, Escher, the mannequin witch with a deceitful nature. If the name doesn't give it away, the rooms in her labyrinth are based on MC Escher works. I liked this fight because it was the first time we actually had a witch in this story fight with her familiars. In case you were curious what I mean by that, the "secret" behind her labyrinth is that each room is actually one of her familiars. That's why the same door leads to different rooms each time, and why it's so easy to mess with them.

Scarlet and Sakuya also had a pretty interesting conversation about Deus' group, didn't they? Scarlet accusing them and Sakuya not-quite-defending them. In some ways, that's a part of Sakuya's role in this story, to be a counterpoint to Scarlet. Not necessarily in the sense of continually arguing, but in the sense of being a good foil. That's something we'll get around to in the coming chapters.

Before I end the author notes and start the chapter allow me to say two things. First: "Hmmmmm. A mermaid witch with swords and a candlehead witch who fights with illusions. I wonder what that could mean." Second: "I'm really looking forward to next week's chapter." Now that that's said, we're done here. Feel free to leave any and all feedback. See you next week.

**Chapter 5: "Are you okay?"**

Nothing. Nothing has happened in any meaningful capacity. No spontaneous ambushes, no appearances from Yuki, not a single murmur of any type of activity. We came up with the buddy system here in case of sudden attack, but it's like we're completely invisible in the eyes of the magical mafia. However, since we're not idiots, we still stuck with the buddy system. Just because they haven't attacked doesn't mean they won't, so we've stayed on guard. Today I was patrolling with Inugami and Yagami, while Inko and Yukari took the other side of the city. We had just finished taking out another witch, and we took a well deserved rest as the barrier dissolved around us.

"Sheesh," Yagami says, transforming back into her street clothes. "That one was a pain."

"I'll say," Inugami says. "Yagami, why didn't you tell us that stupid candlehead had your cloning ability?"

"How am I supposed to know that?" Yagami asks. "Not like we illusion users have a network we use to communicate with each other."

"At least Scarlet picked out the real one. How'd you figure that one out?" Inugami asks. "Some kind of sixth sense?"

"Deductive reasoning."

"… You guessed?" Yagami asks.

"Well, kind of," I admit. "The clones came from all around us, but the real one never moved when the clones came in, so there was no attempt to trick us into thinking that wasn't the real witch, it was just bringing in reinforcements. Of course it could have been a fake from the beginning. That's why I guessed."

"Well, it was a hell of a shot," Inugami says. "It's starting to get a little late. We should head back and talk with Inko and Yukari about what we discovered."

"You mean talk about nothing?" Yagami asks.

"… Yeeeeeah, unfortunately," Inugami admits.

"I'm looking forward to getting back home," I say.

"Then let's go."

We start walking back, when suddenly my vision goes back… and suddenly I'm in Inugami's arms.

"… I'm not against waking up in your arms more often."

"Sh-shut up!" she yells at me. "What happened? You just lost consciousness and nearly ate concrete. You didn't take that much damage against the witch, did you?"

I shake my head and stand back up.

"Is your soul gem getting really corrupted?" Yagami asks.

I check. … Nope, seems fine. My gem doesn't seem to corrupt as fast as Inugami and Yagami's soul gems do. Probably because I don't use any magic when fighting like they do. It'd help if I knew what my magic was, but I'll accept not needing to use grief seeds that often as a good compromise.

"… Scarlet, when was the last time you actually slept?" Inugami asks.

"How long ago did we decide to help out Yukari?" I answer with a question.

"That was about three weeks ago," Yagami answers.

"Then about three weeks."

"You haven't slept in three weeks?!" Inugami exclaims. "What the hell have you been doing?!"

"Well, I wait until mom and dad fall asleep, then I head out into the city and start looking around to see if I can find anything important, like witches or any of Deus' magical girl army. Haven't found anything interesting yet."

"You freaking idiot!" Inugami yells at me. "What the hell are you thinking, going out on your own? The whole reason this group system exists is to make sure that we're not in any significant danger, and you just go and say 'screw it, I don't need a team,' and do your own thing!"

"I-I'm sure she has a reason," Yagami says timidly.

"I don't care if she has the greatest reason a person could give!" Inugami says. "If Scarlet keeps being an idiot she's going to get herself killed!"

"Is that so?" I ask.

"Yes! What if you collapsed when we were fighting that witch?" Inugami asks. "What if we finally meet this Deus and you collapse right at her feet? Scarlet, you're only going to get yourself killed if you just go nonstop like this."

"I don't feel ill or anything," I tell her. "Prior to the collapsing that started recently I've been mostly fine."

"'Start recently?' Wait, this wasn't the first time you've passed out?" Yagami asks.

"Yeah, a few nights ago I ran into this weird mermaid witch and I blacked out while fighting her. When I woke up it turned out she had cut me in half with one of her swords. Turns out if you apply a little magic then even that's easy to heal from."

*slap*

"Don't act so unflappably calm about stuff like that!" Inugami yells at me.

"… That hurt," I note.

"Please forgive me," Yagami says with a slight bow before she slaps me as well. "Scarlet, I've lost enough friend already, please don't make me lose another one to something stupid like this."

"I don't get it," I say. "I'm trying to help and get this settled as quickly as possible. Is that really that bad?"

"When you're putting yourself in danger like that, then yes, it is that bad," Yagami says.

"We're going back to your house," Inugami says. "We can save the debrief for tomorrow. I'll call Inko and Yukari and tell them they can head home. We're going back to your house and you're going to get some sleep, got it? This is non-negotiable."

"… I think sleep is a waste of time," I say. "I could be doing something else, something way more productive."

"Scarlet, please," Yagami says. "Do it for us. Just get a good sleep every once in a while, okay?"

"Okay," I concede. "I'll sleep in for a bit."

"Thank you," Inugami says. "Come on now, let's get you some rest."

***Scene Break***

"Haaaa," Inugami sighs as she and Yagami leave Scarlet's house.

"What's with you?" Yagami asks. "Something still bugging you?"

"That idiot is what's bugging me," Inugami replies. "Seriously, thinking she can just go around, doing whatever she pleases and not caring about the consequences. I want to know what she was like pre-amnesia. If she was anything like she is now, then how the heck did she ever live this long?"

"She seems to know what she's doing," Yagami points out. "How else would she be able to head out on her own and not get herself killed? I think you're selling her a bit short, aren't you?"

"She is short!" Inugami counters. "She's short, flat, always has this blank look on her face. She looks like a doll. She's pretty, but devoid of all emotion. She's some doll that someone made and brought to life with magic. That's what I think. That's why she doesn't have memories, she was just brought to life that day. Or something."

"You sound like an idiot," Yagami tells her.

"Shut up," Inugami elegantly responds. She pauses for a moment before sighing again. "I mean, okay, she can take care of herself. I'm just worried about her, you know? What if you found out Inko was sneaking out at night and dealing with witches on her own and stuff?"

"I'd tell her I'm proud of her initiative and furious at her poor decision making," Yagami responds. "The fury would probably outweigh the pride. She'd get a very stern scolding, and probably no desserts for a week."

"You sound like a parent grounding their child," Inugami points out.

"It's an effective punishment," Yagami says with a shrug. "Girl likes her desserts."

"Speaking of the girl, how'd you say you met her again?" Inugami asks. "I'm kind of curious. You don't seem like two people who would hang out that much."

"Found her while hunting," Yagami replies. "Ran into a witch barrier and found her trying to fight it off. She was failing pretty miserably so I had to intervene. She followed me home like some stray cat and now we're here."

"Your parents didn't object to the weird girl following you around?" Inugami asks.

"What parents?" Yagami asks. "Inko's never said anything about hers, and mine have been dead for years."

"O-oh. I-"

"Please don't let the next words out of your mouth be 'I'm sorry,'" Yagami says. "Why even bother apologizing for something like that? And to preempt any other concerns or questions, and since I know you're curious, there was a car accident. I had to spend half a year in the hospital as a result. I spent a lot of time on the streets, meeting people, watching people leave me, spending a lot time barely managing to stay alive. It was a miserable time in my life."

"Is that why Kyubey came to recruit you?" Inugami asks.

"Please, the white cat had been approaching me since I first woke up in the hospital," Yagami says. "Kept trying to convince me to become a magical girl. 'Wish your parents back to life! Wish for a comfortable home to live in!' Stuff like that. I didn't care enough to actually ever make the contract, so I didn't."

"… Yet here you are."

"Yet here I am," Yagami confirms before continuing her story. "About a year ago I hit a real low. I was getting fed up with just barely being able to scrounge up enough to keep myself alive, with really only knowing a bunch of people who would die as soon as I met them. I found a revolver in a dumpster I was rooting through, loaded and everything. And well…"

Yagami extends her thumb and index finger and points the "gun" at her temple.

"Bang!" She shouts, miming the action of shooting herself in the head. "… Well, that was the idea anyway."

"Couldn't go through with it?" Inugami asks.

"Chickened out," Yagami confirms. "I dropped the gun and started sobbing. Kyubey showed up and offered the magical girl thing again, and I accepted. I was sick and tired of being alone, so I wished for friends. Stupid rat has a pretty twisted sense of humor, since that wish gave me that stupid outfit and the ability to clone myself."

"At least you met Inko," Inugami offers. "She's your friend, right?"

Yagami chuckles slightly.

"You're right. I know I've said that she wouldn't survive a week without me, but I'm honestly more worried what I'd do without her. I don't think I could stand being alone for another day."

"Well, that's why we're here," Inugami says. "Unless you plan on skipping town once we've dealt with Deus, we'll still be around."

"I know," Yagami says with a smile. "Thanks for that."

"No need to thank me," Inugami says with a smirk. "Girls like us have to stick together."

"What's that mean? I assume that you're referring to something a bit more then just us being magical girls, right?"

"Very perceptive," Inugami replies. "I'm kind of like you. Key words being 'kind of.' The key difference is that I left my family, rather then having them taken from me. Papa was apathetic towards everyone and hardly ever home, while Mama was either drunk, abusive or both. The only thing resembling a positive relationship I had was this dog I met in the park one day. He didn't have an tags or ID or anything, so I called him Shirou. One day I was fed up with home, so I ran away. Shirou followed me, probably because I was the only one who had bothered to even acknowledge he existed in a long time. Poor guy was really old though, and one night he went to sleep and just didn't wake up. Kyubey told me I could bring him back if I wanted, but I thought that would be too cruel. I don't know how much Shirou had been through, and I didn't want him to have to go through much more. I wished him back, but only for a day so I could say goodbye properly. So I kind of know what you're talking about when you say how tired you were of being alone. I was there myself for a time. Now I'm here."

"A girl who lost everything and a girl who left everything behind," Yagami says quietly.

"In the end neither of us really have much," Inugami says.

"Completely false," Yagami says. "What we have is a whole lot of problems to deal with."

"I wouldn't say there's a lot," Inugami says. "Just three. A blonde doll, a white-haired idiot, and an entire organization of magical girls out for our blood."

"Sucks to be us, doesn't it?"

"Definitely. Can't say I'm necessarily unhappy with it," Inugami says.

"Same here," Yagami agrees. "Though Inko gets on my nerves a bit too often for my tastes."

"Please, Scarlet drives me up a wall way more than Inko could ever bug you. Sure, I get it, amnesia and all that, but the level of straight up naiveté that she can demonstrate is freaking ridiculous!"

"I know how that feels," Yagami says. "Freaking Inko continually manages to astound me."

"Please. You were in the kitchen so you weren't there when I put Scarlet to bed-"

"I was grabbing a few snacks, you're not wrong."

"But you know what she did? She gave me a kiss on the cheek!"

"She didn't."

"She did! Said that according to her mom, whenever you telling someone you care about goodnight you give 'em a kiss. I had to explain to her just what her mom meant by that and why you don't do that to friends."

"Reminds me of Inko. For the first few weeks I kept waking up and finding her in my bed! Apparently she heard somewhere that partners are supposed to sleep together. We're not those kind of partners, and I had to explain the difference. That kind of stuff is common knowledge, isn't it?"

"You'd think so, wouldn't you?"

For the rest of the night Yagami and Inugami gossiped and swapping stories about their friends.

***Scene Break***

… I know I promised Inugami and Yagami that I'd sleep in, but I can't. Not for any special reason of "I must go out and do something," I just can't sleep. I'd really appreciate being able to pass out right now. I sigh and get out of bed. I'll head out, walk around for a few minutes, then come back. That should allow me some good sleep, right? Tire myself out on a walk. Yeah, sounds good.

Not even bothering to change out of my nightdress, I open up my window and hop outside. I like this city at night. It's so quiet and empty. It's nice. It also makes it really easy to pick up where the witches are, since there's no interference from all the people walking about. … Like right now, I think I can feel a witch over there.

I start heading for the witch's labyrinth I detected. I work my way through a few alleys and down a few streets. … Wait a second. I'm a super-strong magical girl. Couldn't I just like, toss some of that strength around to get me places faster? Why am I traveling like a ground-based normal human? I transform and get ready for some fancy magical girl traversal, only to realize I've arrived at my destination. Darn. I'll need to keep that in mind for the next time I get anywhere.

I ready myself for the coming battle, when I notice something odd. The entrance to the witch's labyrinth is pulsing. … I think… I think I can feel another magical girl in there. Oh, so someone is already taking care of this one? I'm not keen on the idea of stealing another girl's hard-earned winnings. I'll still go in though. She might need help. I make sure I've got my spear out and hop into the labyrinth. Okay, time to take in my surround- ow. What just hit me? Hmm? It's my necklace. Why is my necklace hitting me in the face? Hmm? Where'd my hat go?

I start looking around and see my hat up on the ceiling. … Okay then. The room I'm in is really weird. There's all sorts of staircases that start on the walls and go into the ceiling, the wall or some other weird direction. Who designed this room? The door's over there on the wall, so how am I… Wait a minute.

I let go of my spear, and it goes flying up towards the ceiling, just like my hat. Or in this case, I suppose it would be the floor. So I'm on the ceiling, and the floor's actually the ceiling. That explains why my skirt is gravitating upwards also. That's annoying. So how am I supposed to get up there, the stairs?

I walk towards a set of stairs and walk up them. Sure enough, now I'm on the wall, standing on it like it was the floor. What an odd place. At least my skirt's only flowing to one side instead of completely flipped over. Okay, let's head for the only door in this place. I cross a few staircases and walls and head towards the door. I open it up and enter. Now I'm on some weird construction. It's made up of a bunch of squares that come together and form a star-like structure. In the center of the construction is a small platform, housing two human-sized beings. The first was some kind of mannequin. It didn't have any distinguishing features, no face or eyes or hair or anything. Just a blank, vaguely humanoid structure with all the joins highlighted. Don't artists use those for drawings?

The second figure was a girl, a magical girl I'll assume. She had short, silver hair and was only wearing a sleeveless white dress. In her hand she had a highly decorated golden spear. Her outfit seems a little too ordinary for it to be a magical girl costume, but considering she's taking some incredibly tough blows, I think it's safe to assume she's magical in nature. Whenever the girl swipes at the mannequin, it disconnects its joints from the rest of its body to dodge. The disconnected body parts can still apparently move, so the girl is being assaulted by the main body, and the limbs that keep attacking and keeping her off guard.

Just as the girl is about to suffer a threefold attack from two halves of an arm and a leg, I jump in and block the blows with my spear.

"Are you okay?" I ask.

"I've done better," she answers. "Who're you?"

"Scarlet. You?"

"Sakuya. Any ideas for how to deal with this segmented abomination?"

"That depends. Anything in the environment we can use to our advantage?"

"The star cube we're in has weird gravity, so as long as your feet are firmly planted then you can't fall off," she says. "Unfortunately that means we can't bring it to the top and push it off the edge."

"What about weird staircase room, right before this?" I ask.

"Staircase room?" Sakuya asks, rubbing the back of her neck. "The room before this was this tower that you could ascend forever and never find the top, then start descending and never find the bottom."

That's weird. There's only the one door, and I certainly didn't see anyway that multiple paths could converge onto this room. So that means…

"Sakuya, distract the witch for a second."

"Understood," she says. She disappears and reappears right in front of the mannequin's main body. A teleporter, is that right? She delivers a few quick blows to the body before jumping back. I leap in, taking advantage of the opening and swing my spear as hard as I can. The flat side of the blade collides with the body, and the mannequin is sent flying. Luckily I'm a good shot, because the witch goes flying through the door.

"After it?" Sakuya asks.

"Exactly," I confirm.

We both leap back onto the star cube and head through the door. Instead of coming out in the room with the staircases, we're at what appears to be a waterfall. A waterfall as mind bending as the staircases, I'll give it that. So the water somehow flows upwards until it reaches the end of the chute where it cascades down onto a waterwheel which… provides the water with the energy needed to go up the chute? I don't know.

"What in the world?" Sakuya asks. "This was a tower when I came through."

"And a staircase when I dropped in," I tell her. "Looks like this witch plays very loosely with the laws of reality."

"I quite like that," Sakuya says. "What a creative little one. Where'd it go?"

"It's stuck in the water wheel."

Yep. The witch is stuck under the water wheel. It seems to be having a hard time getting out. Me and Sakuya stare at the surreal scene of the witch trying to escape the water wheel, only to get pulled back under.

"Should… Should we help it?" I ask.

"I'm trying to figure that out myself," Sakuya says. "… Yes, we should. That way we can get a better shot at it. I can't hit it when it's hiding under that barrel."

"Water wheel."

"Water wheel, my apologies" Sakuya corrects. She aims carefully, then throws her spear. It pierces the center of the wheel, and the entire contraption falls apart. … So does the room we're in.

"Eh?" I wonder out loud, before me and Sakuya start falling.

"Oh, so if you destroy the main illusion, then the world itself falls apart," Sakuya notes. "How neat!"

Before I can ask what she means by "neat" we both hit the ground. … Considering we're back in the staircase room, maybe it's the ceiling.

"Oh," I say.

"What's up?"

"Found my hat," I say as I grab my hat off the ground and put it back on.

"So where'd the marionette go?" Sakuya asks.

"Mannequin."

"Mannequin, my apologies," Sakuya corrects. "So where'd she go?"

I point up at the ceiling. Sakuya looks up and sees the mannequin witch sitting on the ceiling. It looks right back at her, then waves hello.

"… Well that's just silly," Sakuya says.

Having heard that comment, the witch drops from the ceiling and lands right on top of her. I jump at the witch, ready to attack, but the witch points its hand at the wall and suddenly I go rocketing towards the wall. I slam into it face first, then bring myself back to my feet. Wait a minute. Now I'm standing on the wall, but the witch is still where it was. So it can mess with how gravity works in this room? Well that's fine and dandy, but I know how to do that too. I rush for the stairs and try get back on the same floor as the witch, but it points again and I'm sent flying towards the ceiling. I hit the wall at a decent speed, then I'm sent flying again. And again. And again. I'm sent flying into a new wall again and again. Eventually I'm given a reprieve and allowed to stand back up. The witch is on the same floor as me, so I aim and toss my spear, only to have it go wildly off mark. … Oh yeah, I'm on the ceiling now, and the spear's still affected by gravity. The witch puts a hand to it's mouth and mimes the action of laughing at me, only to be interrupted by Sakuya swinging her staff and decapitating the witch. A thick, ink like liquid flows from the wound as the head goes flying up towards the ceiling/floor/whatever it is. Sakuya tries to hit it again, but the witch dodges her strikes and jumps up to the floor to regain it's head.

"I suppose it's good to know that we can damage it. We just need to catch it off guard before it can detach its parts itself. But just how are we expected to be able to hit that thing in the first place?" Sakuya asks. "It's slippery as an eel, and every time we get close it switches gravity. Projectile attacks are completely useless, I suppose, if we can't even aim properly. I can't even tell how gravity works anymore."

"It's pretty easy to find out," I tell her. "It's all a matter a perspective."

A copy of my spear appears in my hand. I point the tip upwards, then let go. The spear goes flying towards the ceiling, where it runs straight through the witch's body just as it successfully reattaches it's head, pinning it where it stands.

"Oh! Great shot!" Sakuya says. "Though, how did you know it was going to work like that?"

I point at her skirt which is currently more interested in flying up then it is with actually covering what it should.

"Only our bodies are affected by the gravity change," I say. "Things like our clothes and weapons are still subject to normal gravity. It's an easy way to see how gravity will affect out actions like that."

"I see," Sakuya says. "That's rather clever of you. Now then, how are we supposed to actually get to it?"

"Take the stairs. They're the easy ways to get to the different walls."

"I see. Okay, let's go take care of that witch."

We take a few stair cases and wind up on the floor, as indicated by gravity affecting us as it would normally.

"It's not moving anymore," I note.

"She's not dead if that's what you're wondering," Sakuya says. "After all, if she was then we wouldn't be here, remember?"

Right, witch barriers fade once the witch is dead, which means that this one's still alive. In response to my thought, the witch moves forward, it's body being torn apart by the spear still impaled in it's body. I'm so shocked by the fact that it's ignoring the fact that it's been nearly cut in half that I wasn't able to dodge the fist it sent flying straight through my chest. The nearly bisected witch then moves the arm it has buried in my chest right and proceeds to tear a large chunk out of my torso. I start bleeding all over the monochrome floor, painting it a bright red. My mind starts going hazy, and it becomes increasingly more difficult to stay conscious, let alone focused on anything.

"Scarl-"

Sakuya's cry is cut short by the witch, still nearly bisected, delivering a quick blow to her neck. Sakuya reflexively grasps her neck and the witch tears my spear out of the floor and stabs it through her chest. The two halves of the witch's torso put themselves back together, and the mannequin walks over to me. My head is still in this red haze, so it's hard to tell how close or far away the thing was. It brings its arm back like it's readying a punch, then brings its fist down. The fist connects with my face, but I don't do so much as flinch. The witch tries again, the punch connecting with the left side of my head. I once again don't even budge. The witch tries once last time to throw a punch. The mannequin pauses when it sees that I've caught its fist.

"You haven't already realized that such pitiful attacks are completely useless?" I put extra emphasis on that last word.

I stand back up, still holding onto the witch's fist. The right side of my torso is still completely gone, but I ignore that. I grab onto the witch's arm with my other hand, and squeeze. The upper part of the witch's arm is crushed, and a black, ink-like substance starts flowing from the wound. The witch tries to back away, but my grip is too tight. I spin around and throw the witch right through the one door in this room. I jump into the next room after it. The next room was some kind of staircase in a tower. The witch is further up the stairs then I am. It starts trying to run up the stairs, but I leap towards it and interrupt it before it can make it very far.

"Useless!" I tell it before I slam it's head into the wall over and over again. It's head is crushed a little more with each impact, and the ink starts splattering everywhere. I give it one more bash against the wall before tossing it down the stairs. It tumbles down the rectangular stair case, each collision with the stair case damaging the witch's body more and more. It keeps tumbling down, and I notice that the staircase loops around, and the witch will soon be right next to me. I smile as the mannequin comes within my range. I grab it and begin my feast. I start by biting into the witch's neck, before I move on to other parts of the body. Within minutes the entire witch has been consumed. I wipe the ink away from my mouth as the barrier fades around me, and the alley I was in before is returned to normal.

"W-wait," I say, the red haze finally starting to clear from my mind. "What did I just… Oh god, I did it again, didn't I?"

"That was certainly not a show I was expecting to see tonight."

I turn and see Sakuya standing there, apparently not even harmed.

"Weren't you-"

"Stabbed? Certainly wasn't the first time," Sakuya says, rubbing the back of her neck. "I'm more curious about your little episode and your wound."

"Wound? I was…" I notice the large chunk I'm missing from the side of my torso. "Oh yeah. I was…"

I start swaying back and forth before I black out. I woke up a few minutes later, my head resting comfortably on Sakuya's lap.

"Oh, our hero finally awakens," she says with a mocking smile. "Happy to rejoin the land of the living?"

"What happened?" I ask.

"You passed out, so I healed you up a bit," Sakuya gives a concise explanation. "I figured I kind of owed you, since you helped me out."

I check and see that my side has been completely healed, and my torso is whole once again. Always nice to have a healer running around. … Wait a minute.

"I thought you were a teleporter, not a healer."

"I don't even know what you're talking about," Sakuya says. "I wish I could teleport. That would make getting around town much easier. Alas, I am just good at healing people. It's a skill that has plenty of use, admittedly."

But I saw you… I probably saw it wrong. Considering I've been passing out recently I probably just had a brief black out and missed her moving from one spot to another.

"So, do you mind me asking what happened?" Sakuya asks. "I got stabbed, you got nearly torn to pieces and then you went a little insane. Does that happen very often with you?"

"No," I tell her. "I wish it didn't happen at all. I don't even know what it is, but I just kind of lose control and go crazy and… aaaaaaah."

"Well, whatever you did, you did help me out," Sakuya says. "So I thank you for that. Admittedly, I would have been fine without your help but assistance is always appreciated, especially amongst other magical girls."

"What do you mean?" I ask.

"Well… Oh, I might as well be honest," Sakuya says. "I got severely overconfident. I thought 'Hey, I'm a pretty tough magical girl. I can easily take out a witch without transforming or using any magic. This'll be simple!' It's the equivalent of fighting a boss in an RPG with all your armor and accessories unequipped and without using any spells. It was an awful attempt at a challenge run, considering it could have gotten me killed if I kept it up. That would have been dreadful."

"Is that so? Well then, I should go back home," I say, pulling myself to my feet. "You can keep the grief seed, if there was one. I just want to go home."

As I say that I black out again and hit the ground face first.

"Are you well?" Sakuya asks as she rouses me back to the realm of the awake.

"I'm fine," I tell her as I stand myself back up. "I haven't slept in a while."

"How long, may I ask, is a while?"

"About three weeks."

"Wow," Sakuya seems shocked. "Do you have insomnia? You're a magical girl, so you should be able to fix that."

"No, I've just been doing what I did tonight," I explain. "Patrolling about, making sure no rogue magical girls are plotting an ambush."

"Please, magical girls don't plan ambushes," Sakuya says. "They wouldn't even know you exist, so why would they try to attack you when you're the one looking for them?"

… I briefly struggle with whether or not I should tell her. I grip my necklace and start fiddling with it as I think. She could be with Deus' group, which would be bad. But if she's with that group, then shouldn't she already know who I am? Yuki pretty clearly saw me and Yagami, so wouldn't she report that to her boss, and have that information passed down the chain so that they would be on the lookout for us? I imagine she'd recognize me if that was the case.

"See, me and my friends have caught the attention of some unscrupulous magical girls," I tell her. "A recent friend of ours was caught up in some shady business with them and tried to get out, so now they're hunting her down and we're working to protect her from them."

"Unscrupulous how?" Sakuya asks.

"Well she said that they're very strict about their rules, and if you step out of line you're killed. Sometimes they're required to kill people who may even be completely innocent. It's a twisted system run by some twisted people."

"Hmmm. But how large is it?" Sakuya asks.

"I don't know any numbers, but the way she talked about it made it seem like it was a very large organization."

"Then could it be that the wing she worked for was just corrupt?" she asks.

"What do you mean?"

"Well even the law is such a large force that corruption happens right under the noses of those who mean well," Sakuya explains. "Could it be that this group is actually completely benevolent, and your friend just happened to have a boss who abused their power?"

"I find it hard to believe," I say. "The leader of the group is supposedly extremely powerful, as you would need to be to run an organization as large as she's made it sound. I find it hard to believe that someone that powerful, someone who created this group in the first place, would ever let it grow to a point where she doesn't know what any of her subordinates are doing. So if it is supposed to be a benevolent organization there are two options: Either she doesn't know, in which case she's incompetent, or she knows just how corrupted her underlings are and allows it. Neither option sounds good."

"I see your point," Sakuya says. "But what if it wasn't necessarily that she allowed it, so much as she couldn't do anything about it? What if the corruption was so far spread that rooting it all out would cause too much ruckus and pain, and make it so that the entire group would fall apart? While people may be hurt by the corruption, it is likely far less than people who would be hurt by the system falling into utter chaos."

"Then that means she's letting it happen, _and_ she's incompetent for letting that kind of behavior spread that far without doing anything about it," I counter. "I'll concede, from what I've been told, they at least started as something good. They took in magical girls who were alone and near death and provided them with the things needed to survive, provided they did as they were told. There's nothing inherently wrong with that, but the problem is when innocent peopl- no, the problem is when anyone who's outside the magical girl system gets involved with it. Innocent, guilty, it doesn't matter. When you start bringing normal humans into our business, that's not okay."

"I agree completely," Sakuya says. "Magical girls and humans are on such other levels that the two really should never be allowed to mix. In terms of serious business things, I should clarify. I personally see no problem with magical girls having friends who are completely human. Just don't bring them into our world. It's not their place."

"And that's what I've been told is happening," I say. "I was told that my friend was ordered on more then one occasion to kill someone who likely never had anything to do with magical girls. She's not allowed to refuse either, or she'll be killed. It's an awful group of awful people."

"And do you have any first-hand evidence of this?" Sakuya asks. "Perhaps your friend is merely misleading you in an attempt to stage a coup and claim leadership of this organization?"

"Considering the one other person I met from the group didn't really do much besides try and kill her for leaving the group, and kill me and my friend for not wanting that to happen, I don't really feel that I need evidence."

"Perhaps you're right," Sakuya says. "However, not knowing about this group you're talking about, I can't say anything. I'll simply have to take your word for it."

She doesn't sound convinced at all. It seems more like she's giving up the argument not because I won, but because she's bored of this talk. Sakuya briefly seems surprised for a moment, before regaining her composure.

"What's with you?" I ask.

"That necklace," she says. "Do you know where you got it?"

"Not at all," I say, firmly grasping the necklace. "What, do you know where it came from?" If she does then that'd be a real help.

"Not at all," she says. "Though I feel like I've seen it somewhere before… Oh, that's going to bug me for a long time. It's like when you've got a song stuck in your head and realize you've forgotten the name. It's on the tip of my tongue, but it just won't click. What a shame. Must not have been important if I can't remember. Oh well. I suppose I shall take my leave. It was a pleasure meeting you Scarlet."

"Same to you Sakuya," I tell her.

Sakuya spins on her heel, turning away from me. She starts walking off, and before long she's disappeared from view. I do the same, turning and heading back home. Once there I leap back into my room through the window, transform back into my nightdress and collapse onto my bed. Within seconds of my head hitting the pillow, I've fallen into a wonderfully relaxing sleep.


	6. Chapter 6: What exactly are you saying?

**Chapter Six: "What exactly are you saying?"**

A little less than a week after I had met Sakuya, me and my friends were having a meeting in my room, as was usual. During this meeting, Inugami had just proposed an odd course of action, so I felt the need to clarify some things.

"Sorry, let me ask a question," I say. "What exactly are you saying?"

"I'm saying, we've been way too worked up about things!" Inugami says. "This whole thing with Deus and her group has gotten us so on edge and paranoid recently. Look, Scarlet passed her 'no sleeping' policy on to Inko and Yukari and now they're deader than a brick!"

I look and see the aforementioned duo passed out on my bed, comfortably snuggled up together. How adorable.

"They look like they're sleeping pretty well," I say.

"They were awake just a little bit ago," Yagami informs me. "They passed out literally seconds before Ui mentioned them."

"We already went over this thing with Scarlet," Inugami says. "Working ourselves to the point of exhaustion isn't going to help anyone at all. I understand that we're all a little scared of what could happen. I get it. I thought that we needed a day off to let ourselves recharge and gather our wits. So, Miku and I came up with this idea, scrounged up some spare cash and bought tickets for everyone to go to the pool."

"I didn't even know there was an indoor pool in this city," I say.

"You don't know a lot of things," Inugami points out. "We thought this would be nice. Get everyone together, go for a nice, relaxing swim, let everyone calm down a bit and unwind a little. We're far more likely to win against anyone if we're well rested and calm."

"We'll grab some snacks, dress up in cute swimsuits, swim, have fun, it'll be great," Yagami says, sounding rather pleased.

"… One more question."

"Yes, Scarlet?" Inugami asks.

"Do I know how to swim?" I ask.

"…"

Inugami and Yagami huddle together and begin whispering to each other.

"I hadn't even thought of that. Can she swim?"

"Even if she knew how, would she be able too, now that she lost her memory? Would that be instinct, or would she need that knowledge readily available?"

"Well, even if she can't then she can hang around the shallow area, or something, can't she?"

"That sounds fine."

""Break.""

The two break the huddle and turn to me.

"You'll be fine," Yagami says. "There are plenty of areas that you don't need to worry about drowning in."

"Is that so?"

"So it is," Inugami confirms. "Now, do you have a swimsuit ready?"

"Probably. One last question," I say.

"Shoot."

"What's a swimsuit?" I ask.

"…"

"Miku-"

"I know. Don't worry Ui, I know a few shops that sell relatively cheap swimsuits. This isn't even an issue."

"Is that so?" I ask. "That's awfully convenient."

"Heads up, it does need to be a one piece," Inugami tells Yagami.

"What, don't want your girlfriend showing too much skin to everyone?" Yagami asks.

"No, she's just got this giant scar on her back, and it's probably best we not draw attention to things like that," Inugami explains.

"Huh? Really?" Yagami asks. "The scar's news to me."

"She's not lying," I tell her. I take off my shirt and turn around to show her my back. "You can ask how I got it."

"How'd you get it?" Yagami asks. I shrug in response. "Right. I can ask, but that doesn't mean you have an answer."

"Unfortunately true," I say, putting my shirt back on. "I'm not too broken up about it, and I don't really care who sees. I'll leave it up to you if you think it'll bug anyone else."

"We'll figure that out when we actually go shopping," Inugami says. "I'm willing to bet that no one here actually has a swimsuit, so I'm sure we'll have plenty of time to work all that out."

"So, is operation 'let's go to the pool' set to go?" Yagami asks.

"I have no objections," I say. "It'll be a new experience for me."

"Three to two, operation is go!" Inugami declares.

"I'm sure Inko and Yukari would say yes, so it's five to zero," Yagami says. "Of course that's speculation, but I'm pretty confident in that guess."

"So first order of business is suit shopping," Inugami says. "We'll let those two rest for a bit longer before we head out. We can head to the pool tomorrow after they get a good night's rest so they don't pass out in the pool."

"That would be bad," I agree.

And that's how we were convinced to take a day off. It took a few hours for Yukari and Inko to finally rejoin the realm of the awoken. We went shopping, picked up our new suits and went back home for the good sleep that Yagami and Inugami felt that we all needed. The next day we packed up and headed out for the indoor pool. … Indoor pool. I'm thinking…. lots of water and a bunch of people. That's sort of the image I have in my head. Like, a much larger bath, except you have to wear swimsuits. Something like that.

"Wooooooowww!" Inko exclaims once we entered the establishment. "It's absolutely gigantic! How large is it?"

"I dunno, 3 meters?" I suggest. I'm awful at measurements.

"Not even close! That'd be the worst pool ever," Inugami tells me.

"That's just a slightly larger than usual bathtub," Yagami says.

"If I may argue semantics, pools really are just larger than usual bathtubs," Yukari says.

"Well yeah, but it's the principle of the thing," Inugami says. "Pools are opportunities for people to swim and have fun with each other without having to worry about the sand and sea life of the beach. You can't swim and enjoy other people's company in a bathtub."

"That is true!" Inko says. "After all, even if you take a bath with someone, there's very little room with which to enjoy each other's company!"

"… Miku, she's not talking from experience, is she?" Inugami asks.

"No, she isn't," Yagami says. "Not for lack of her trying."

"Skinship is an important part of building relationships!" Inko insists.

"Is that so?" I ask.

"No, it isn't," Inugami says. "Inko, stop teaching Scarlet weird things."

"Oh? Was I mistaken?" Inko asks.

"Very mistaken," Yukari tells her.

… Oh yeah, I should probably talk about the results of our shopping spree. We went through all of that trouble, it would be a disservice to not mention what swimsuits we bought. I was wearing a red, one piece swimsuit that had a trim around that waist that resembled a skirt, while Inugami was wearing a black two piece bikini. Considering I picked it out for her, I'm rather proud of how it looks. She picked my swimsuit out as a trade off. My swimsuit did a pretty good job of hiding my scar, but if you looked carefully enough you could see it poking out a little bit out the top. It's subtle enough that you'd probably only see it if you were looking for it. Though like I said, I don't care if anyone sees it, so that doesn't bother me much.

Inko was wearing a white one piece with some red lines that had a small diamond cut out from the midriff, exposing her navel. Why it had the cut specifically to show off navel will continue to baffle me. Is the navel supposed to be Inko's charm point? Mine's my side ponytail, Inugami has her chest, Yagami has pretty eyes, and Yukari has a nice face. Speaking of Yukari, she was wearing a pink bikini top and some short shorts. They didn't look very comfortable to swim in, but she reasoned that she didn't exactly plan on swimming much. I guess she's not a huge fan of water. Yagami was kind of the outlier among us, because instead of a swimsuit, she was wearing her magical girl outfit, minus the sleeves. I mean, it covers just slightly less than the average swimsuit and looks kind of like one so I suppose that makes sense. No one seems to be looking at her weird, so I suppose it's fine. As long as it doesn't interfere with everyone having fun, then it doesn't matter. Let's just have a day to ourselves.

***Scene Break***

Yagami sighed to herself. She was sitting on the edge of the pool with her feet in the water, watching Scarlet and Ui playing around in the pool, splashing water at each other.

"What's the matter Miku?" Inko asks, swimming up to her friend. "Ah! Do you want me to splash you with water? That is what friends do at pools and beaches, correct?"

"Correct, but there's no need for that," Yagami assure her with a smile. "I'm just thinking."

"About what?" Inko asks.

"We're not even supposed to be here," Yagami says. "We were just supposed to stop by, pick up a few grief seeds and head off to another city. Now we're probably going to get ourselves killed."

"Not necessarily," Inko says. "If we all work together then I'm sure we can figure something out! Even if all of Japan's magical girls were to come upon us, it would take them a while to actually arrive! Not every magical girl can teleport, or arrange for transportation here."

"I mean, yeah, but still," Yagami pauses for a second then sighs. "I dunno. I'm starting to get really unnerved. Paranoia's eating at me and all that."

"It's eating away at everyone," Inko says as she pulls herself up to sit next to Yagami. "That's why we're swimming around. To forget about that for a day. Everyone needs a day off, right?"

"You're not wrong, I suppose," Yagami says. She looks towards Scarlet and Ui again, and chuckles slightly.

"What is it?" Inko asks.

"Ui's having fun," Yagami says. "She's been even more paranoid than I have. Did you know she has a room in the same apartment complex we do?"

"No, I didn't," Inko says. "Is that relevant to what you're thinking?"

"Yes, actually. See, Ui lives on the same floor we do, and she thought she was being really subtle when she started sneaking out a few nights ago."

"She does?" Inko asks. "Why? Didn't you and her yell at Scarlet a few days for doing something like that?"

"Yeah, so I followed her one night. Know where she goes? She goes to Scarlet's house. She hangs out around there for a few hours, then heads back to her apartment."

"Really? But why would she do that?" Inko asks. "Is she making sure that Scarlet keeps her promise and actually rests?"

"Probably, but I think it's a little more than that. I think she's worried that Yuki, or another one of Deus' goons will try to attack her in her sleep or something. She's just doing what she can to protect her."

"Why is that?" Inko asks. "They haven't known each other that long, have they?"

"It's the same reason I'd do anything to protect you," Yagami says. "Scarlet's the first friend she's had in a long time. It's something she wants to hold on to. I really know the feeling. If I thought that someone would possibly target you, I'd do anything to make sure you stayed safe."

"… Thank you, Miku," Inko says with a smile and a small blush. "That makes me happy."

"And that's what's important," Yagami says. "Now what are you hanging around me for? Go pester Yukari. See if you can get her to swim a little bit. No point in coming all the way out here and not getting a little soaked."

"Roger!" Inko says and gets ready to jump in the pool, but stops. "Hey, Miku."

"Yeah?"

"Thank you for taking me in," Inko says.

"Where's this coming from?" Yagami asks.

"I just realized that I never properly thanked you," Inko explains. "I've been imposing on you all this time, and I know it must be hard when you can barely keep yourself alive. I want you to know that I'm very grateful for everything you've done for me. It makes me happy to have you as my friend. I love you, Miku!"

"I love you too, now go bug Yukari!" Yagami says. "Look at her, just sitting by herself. She's just begging to be splashed."

"Understood!" Inko says before jumping in the pool and swimming towards Yukari, who was sitting near the deep end of the pool, hugging her knees to her chest. "Hey, Yukari!"

"Huh? What is i- AAAH!"

"Spash!" Inko yells. "Come on! Swim a little!"

"N-no! I hate getting wet!" Yukari yells at her.

"Come on!"

"H-hey, don't pull m-aaahh!"

*SPLASH*

"Not quite what I was going for, Inko," Yagami says with an unsure smile. "At least Yukari'll have a little fun… Probably. It's hard not to have fun when Inko's around. Now, what are those two doing?"

"Okay, so watch carefully," Inugami says. "You hold your hands like this, then do this."

Inugami squeezes her palms together and a shoots a small stream of water at Scarlet.

"See? Give it a shot!" Inugami says. "It's as easy as that."

"Is that so?" Scarlet asks. She puts her hands in the water and interlocks her fingers, getting ready to fire her makeshift water gun. Instead of firing, she decides to simply splash Inugami.

"Pfft," Inugami spits out some of the water she nearly inhaled. "What was that?! That wasn't a water gun, that was a stupid wave!"

"It's easier," Scarlet says. "You're getting wet anyway, might as well get it done as quickly as possible."

"That's not the point!" Inugami says. "Mmmm. Fine then, take this!"

Inugami splashes Scarlet, thus firing the first true shot of the war. The two magical girls shut out everything around them and focused solely on the opponent in front of them and how to splash them with as much water as possible. Despite the ferocity of the battle, both sides of the conflict were smiling brightly.

"First time I've seen Scarlet smile," Yagami notes. "It's nice. I kind of wish she'd do it a bit more often."

"Noisy day, isn't it?" someone asks as they sit next to Yagami. "It's not usually this loud at the pool. I take it that'd be because of your little group?"

"They're a wild bunch," Yagami admits. "They're wild, loud, and annoying, but I still love all of them."

"Hey, don't have to tell me," the person says. "I was raised on the idea of taking care of my friends, and that's an idea I follow as closely as I can. It's not often I see a group as energetic as yours though. I had a group like that once, you guys kind of reminds me of that. Almost a shame my job requires me to kill all of you."

"Wh-what?" Yagami's eyes widen in surprise, and she looks at her companion. "Y-you!"

"Heya!" Yuki says with with a wave and a cheerful expression. She was in a swimsuit rather than her magical girl outfit, though Yagami realized that probably wasn't important at the moment. "Miss me?"

"You're going to try and kill us here?" Yagami asks. "With all these innocent people around?"

"Hey, one solid ice age and no number of witnesses will matter," Yuki says with a shrug, as she absently creates a few ice cubes in her hand. "Oh, and since I know you'll ask, I was here to enjoy my day off and not much else. I swear, killing any of you wasn't my original intention, though I suppose being able to bag a kill or two will make my day off that much sweeter."

"You b-"

"Hey, hey!" Yuki says. "Language! There're children here! Come on, follow me."

"Why should I?" Yagami asks.

"Because if you don't than I'll just kill everyone at this pool, and that's more paperwork and stuff to explain to my Boss. And before you ask, I am completely willing to go through with it. Not like anyone here has given me a reason not to."

"You bitch," Yagami hisses through gritted teeth.

"You said it anyway!" Yuki says as she stands up. "Come on now. Oh, and don't bother calling your friends. Just you and me for a bit, got it?"

Yagami frowns, but doesn't say anything. She gets up and follow Yuki. They left the pool and headed for a deserted area not that far away.

"Here we go," Yuki says, changing into her magical girl outfit. "No witnesses. Witnesses are just a pain to talk about to Boss. Here we can just go all out and really hit each other hard. Sound good?"

"No," Yagami says.

"Ah, not everyone can think battles are cool," Yuki says with a shrug. "Considering you were probably here for fun and swimming, I can't say I don't understand it. I'm the same way, I like swimming and I was here for my day off. Then you assholes show up and suddenly I have to work overtime, and that's just annoying. Boss doesn't pay overtime unless She specifically tells you to do that kind of work. Well, it's my fault I suppose. I could have just ignored you all. But then Boss would probably get all pissed at me for giving up the perfect opportunity."

Yagami ignored Yuki and began planning her assault. Yuki and Yagami had similar positions for their soul gem; it was pinned to their hair like a barrette. All Yagami had to do was shoot Yuki's soul gem, and that's one less problem to deal with.

"So before we begin, here's my question," Yuki says. "Think you can pull it off? I'm sure you've had plenty of experience killing witches, but I really doubt you've killed any magical girls or humans. Think you can do it and not hesitate when the critical moment arrives? Think you can kill another human?"

"That would require me to think of you as a human," Yagami says.

"Ooh! That hurts, sweetheart," Yuki says. "Should we start this thing?"

Yagami was already in motion. With her revolver in hand she took aim at Yuki and fired. A large chunk of ice blocks the bullet, and Yuki then throws the ice at Yagami. Yagami rolls to the side to dodge and takes aim, but Yuki is faster and closes the distance between them. She swings an ice dagger at Yagami's head, but Yagami grabs her wrist to stop the swing. She aims her gun, but a large ice block rises between them, separating the two. Yuki creates a few ice projectiles and starts firing them at Yagami, who shoots them out of the air.

"Come on now!" Yuki says. "Where's the cool clone you had! There's no point in killing you if you don't even make it entertain-guh?!"

Yuki is blindsided by a pistol whip to the back of the head. She looks and sees a second Yagami… and then a third and a fourth. Yuki breaks into a huge smile.

"Much better!"

Yuki creates a sharpened cast of ice around her right arm and charges at the three clones. Yuki swings the ice cast, and Yagami blocks it with her pistol, and counterattacks by kicking Yuki in the stomach. Yuki gets ready to retaliate, but instead switches to defense when one of the Yagamis starts firing. Yuki creates a shield of ice to absorb the bullets, than creates another one behind her to block the bullets the original Yagami had started firing at her. Yuki starts planning her counterattack, but instead creates a dome of ice around her to start absorbing the gunfire from all the clones.

"Damn," Yuki says. "So annoying. What, is she so unconfident in her close range that she thinks zoning me out is the only way to win? So, she's the long range fighter, I'm the close range. How do I get in? First, we GET RID OF THESE ANNOYANCES!"

The dome of ice explodes outwards, and the shards fly towards the various different Yagamis, piercing their bodies. Three of them disappear, and the real Yagami puts a hand to her stomach where the ice had entered. She had started bleeding as a result, but she didn't have time to think about that, as Yuki had dashed up to her. Yagami tries to smack her across the face with her revolver, but Yuki blocks and punches her in the face. Yagami stumbles back, but Yuki continues her pursuit, punching Yagami in the stomach, then delivering a hard kick to the knee, causing her to fall on her face. Yagami creates another five clones to help her out and has them attack Yuki. Yuki doesn't even blink as she freezes all of them where they stand.

"I just threatened to freeze an entire building full of people solid," Yuki says. "You think six people is too much for me? Really it's something I should do from the start, but then there's no fight and there's no fun in that, now is there? I much prefer to drag things out a little."

Yuki punctuates the sentence by stomping down on Yagami's head. She stomps down again, then delivers kicks Yagami in the stomach and sends her rolling. Once she stops rolling, Yagami pulls herself to her feet, barely managing to stay standing. Yuki smiles at the bravado and calmly walks over to the girl. Yuki doesn't even hesitate and punches straight through Yagami's head, causing her to disappear.

"Eh?" Yuki says

Two loud bangs ring through the air. Yuki screams in pain as she falls on the floor. She tries to see just what got hit, and sees that both her kneecaps have been shot.

"Dumbass," Yagami says, her gun still trained on Yuki. "You really think I'd be stupid enough to fight you directly from the start? What's the point of having clones if you don't use them properly?"

"Oh, you fucked up," Yuki growls as she tries to get up, only to fall down both due to a lack of kneecaps as well as Yagami shooting her in the shoulder.

"Don't see how," Yagami says. "Of the two magical girls here, which one still has her kneecaps? Mind explaining why I'm the one who made a mistake?"

"You fucked up because you pissed me off, and I'm going to make you suffer before I kill you," Yuki declares. She creates a sword of ice and with a single swipe cuts both of her legs off.

"What the hell?!" Yagami exclaims.

Ice starts gathering around Yuki's stumps and very quickly grows into two new legs with which she uses to stand up and glare at Yagami.

"You can make artificial limbs with your ice?" Yagami asks.

Instead of answering, Yuki takes advantage of Yagami's surprise and swings her ice sword, cutting Yagami in half.

"E-eh?" Yagami asks as she falls to the ground.

Yuki stands over Yagami and stabs her sword into her chest, causing her to scream in pain.

"Oh yeah, now you get to scream!" Yuki says. "It's not an entertaining execution unless you scream nice and loud! Make some music for me!"

Yuki removes her sword and switches it out for an ice axe.

"I'll make you a deal. If you apologize for shooting me and politely offer to shoot yourself in your goddamn skull, I'll make this nice and quick," Yuki says. "For every three seconds you don't apologize, I'll cut off a limb. … Ah screw it."

Yuki swings her axe and cuts off Yagami's right arm.

"What a mess," Yuki says. "Now, feel like apologizing?" The ice axe changes and becomes a large hammer. "Maybe breaking a limb would produce better results? What do you think? Feel like losing your last limb, or just having it horribly broken beyond repair?"

Yagami thinks about it for a second. As quickly as she can, she aims for the soul gem clipped to the side of Yuki's head. She fires, and the bullet hits Yuki in the eye. She cries out in pain, dropping her hammer to put her hands to her eye socket.

"Damn," Yagami says with a weak smile. "Looks like I missed."

"You fucker!" Yuki yells. She picks her hammer up and smashes it against Yagami's face, completely crushing both her head and soul gem.

***Scene Break***

"What's up Inko?" I ask. "You got all tense."

"Something's wrong," she says. "Where's Miku?"

We look around and notice that the girl in question is missing.

"Maybe she went to the bathroom?" Inugami offers.

"Or went to grab a snack?" Yukari offers. "Not like she was swimming much anyway, she could afford to eat a little."

"… No, that's not it," Inko says. "Something's really wrong. I can feel it. Guys, come on. We have to find her."

Considering how rare it is to see Inko as jumpy as she appears to be, we decided this was definitely not something we could just ignore. We left the pool and started searching for Yagami. We would have split up to cover more ground, but Inko insisted we stay together. What is it that's worrying her so much?

We didn't have to search for too long. Not long after we started the search we heard what sounded like shouting. We all looked at each other, and nodded. We headed for the sound and found a girl kicking and stomping on what could barely even be recognized as a corpse. It was more like a collection of body parts that were scattered around in a mess of gore. Once we had arrived, Inko gasped in horror.

"Miku!" She exclaims.

"Eh? Oh, the rest of the bastards join," the girl says. I almost didn't recognize her since her legs were made of ice and she was missing an eye, but that person was definitely Yuki.

"What did you do to Miku?!" Inko yells at her.

"The stupid bitch shot me, so I murdered the hell out of her," Yuki says.

"M-murdered?" Yukari asks.

"It look like she's coming back from this shit?" Yuki says, gesturing to the body parts. "No. I even made sure to smash her soul gem real good, so she's deader than dead. Deserves far worse for daring to mess with me, but I'll have to leave it at that."

I look at the corpse. It's hard to tell that it's really her but… there really isn't any way to deny it. She's dead. Yagami's really dead. And this girl is the one that killed her. As that realization sets in, my head starts getting hazy, and it starts getting hard to think. Before I can do anything, Inko transforms into her magical outfits and charges at Yuki.

"You monster!" She yells. She swings her mace and tears right through Yuki's ice legs, sending her to the ground face-first. She raises the mace above her head and prepares to bring it down on Yuki's head. The mace lowers… and stops. The mace is stopped from moving by someone's hand holding it in place.

"Now now, what's all this commotion about?"

"Let go!" Inko yells at the newcomer. "This person killed my friend and I'm going to make her pay!"

"Is that what's happening?" she asks. "I'd like to hear what's going on a little bit first, if you don't mind."

My mind is still reeling a little too much to register what's going on. Eventually I manage to get one question out.

"… Sakuya?" I ask. Sure enough, it was her, still wearing that simple white dress. What's she doing here?

"Hmm? Oh! Scarlet!" she says with a smile. "A pleasure to see you again. Sorry, but I haven't remember where I previously saw your necklace, but I'm getting close! How've you been this past week? Ah, perhaps the happy meeting can wait until we deal with this."

"Scarlet, you know her?" Inugami asks me.

"I met her a little bit ago," I confirm.

"Y-y-you met her already?" Yukari asks, sounding scared.

"Yeah, is something wrong with that?" I ask.

Before Yukari can answer, Inko manages to free her mace from Sakuya's grip and swings it at her face, but Sakuya dodges it by simply appearing behind Inko. Inko continues the strike, spinning around and trying to swing at Sakuya again, but Sakuya grabs Inko's wrist and casually breaks it. Inko screams and drops her mace.

"Forgive me, but I have business with the other one," Sakuya says as she flicks Inko's forehead, knocking her over. Sakuya walks over to Yuki who's still lying on the floor and rolls her over.

"Having a rough day?" Sakuya asks with a smile. "I thought the rule was 'no working on days off.' Was there something in my own rules that I misunderstood?"

"B-Boss!" Yuki says in surprise. "I wasn't working, I was here to just relax and then that idiot provoked me and-"

"W-wait… Boss? She's the boss?" Inugami asks. Yukari nods in response.

"That's Deus," Yukari says. "The head of that stupid magical girl group and the reason any of us are dealing with this in the first place."

"Wh-what?!" Inugami asks. "That's Deus?!"

"A pleasure to meet you miss Inugami, and a pleasure to see you as well, Yukari," Sakuya… No, Deus, says in response. "It has been a while, hasn't it? How have you been? Oh, perhaps this isn't the best place to catch up. You four have a dead friend to mourn, and I have both a corpse to dispose of and a misbehaving subordinate to punish."

"P-please Boss, I'm sorry!" Yuki begs. "I didn't mean to disobey you, it just sort of happened and-"

"Don't worry about it," Deus says with a reassuring smile smile. "I'll make sure Nina heals you back to perfect health so that I can discipline you properly. If I'm in a good enough mood afterwards, I'll even have Nina heal you up to perfect health again afterwords. Is that acceptable?"

"Y-y-y-yes Ma'am," Yuki says timidly.

"Very good. Well, I'll see you all soon," Deus says to the rest of us. "Enjoy the rest of your day!"

With that, Deus picks up both Yuki and Yagami's various corpse parts before disappearing, leaving us all alone. We all stood there in near silence, the only sound heard was Inko sobbing.

"I'm sorry Miku. I'm so sorry," Inko gets out in between sobs.

"What happens now?" Inugami asks, hoping someone knows the answer to that question."

"… I don't know," I tell her honestly.


	7. Chapter 7: What are you doing here?

**Author Notes:**

I suppose now would be a pretty awful time to mention that Yagami was my favorite character, wouldn't it? In case you're wondering, there weren't any author notes last chapter for three reasons. First: I didn't want to spoil that Yagami dies at the end of the chapter. Second: I didn't have much to say about the chapter other then the death and I already said I didn't want to spoil that. The only note I had was that when Yagami and Inko had their conversation, the "I love you" exchange was totally platonic. It was more "I love you, you're the best friend I've ever had," than "I love you, please marry me." Thirdly: I procrastinated a little too much when it came to getting that chapter done and had long since passed my self set deadline of "Monday at midnight," so I just really wanted to get the chapter done and posted.

This chapter. I have no idea if nothing happened this chapter or if tons happened this chapter. If you haven't already, I'd encourage you to read the chapter before you read these notes. Since nobody ever reads the author notes I shouldn't have to worry about that.

Firstly, Nina was a late addition. Originally Yuki was Deus' right hand girl and that was that. As I started writing I decided that Yuki really wasn't "first mate" material, so she got demoted. I still wanted Deus to have some kind of close assistant, plus I needed someone to fill a role that had opened up a few chapter from now that I'll talk about when we get there. Eiren's general appearance was somewhat inspired by Eiren from Touhou. Next story I should do some kind of game. "Guess what Touhou character inspired this person." Winner gets a shout out or something, I don't know. Fun fact: originally Nina was going to be Deus' sister, but I decided against it. It wouldn't have changed much. We'll talk about Nina a bit more when her role expands a little bit more.

Secondly, we learned a bit about Scarlet. … Okay, who here is familiar with Touhou and didn't think that the character inspired by Flandre wouldn't have and older sister named Remilia? If you fall into the camp of being unfamiliar with Touhou, Flandre Scarlet is a vampire and she's awesome, so I borrowed some aspects of her character and used them for Scarlet in this story. Flandre has an older sister named Remilia, who is also a vampire. The difference between the Scarlet sisters and the characters in this story is that in Touhou, Remilia is still very much alive whereas here she's deader then disco. I wonder if anyone will be disappointed that Scarlet's real name isn't Flandre. I thought about it, but Flandre isn't really a name I could see anyone giving their child in the real world. This isn't the real world obviously, it's a story, but it still seemed weird. I stumbled across the name Alessa somewhere, and I liked it, so I used it. Remilia's name stuck since I thought it sounded fine. Scarlet's/Alessa's necklace being a cross came from her main inspiration being a vampire. A vampire wearing a silver cross. It's ironic.

Thirdly, Inko. Okay, be honest, who didn't see that one coming? It was obvious from like, chapter 3.

Finally, just a little tidbit. Remember back in chapter 3, when Yoko was looking for her friend "Alice?" Alice was her nickname for Alessa. Yes, her and Scarlet were best friends. "Were" is the operative word here, considering the memory loss and Yoko's death. Just thought I'd point that out.

That about covers all the main points, I think. Next week we'll be having a flashback chapter and finally get all that backstory out in the open, so look forward to that! … Or don't. I can't tell you what to do.

**Chapter 7: "What are you doing here?"**

I didn't even bother announcing that we had returned once we set foot in my house. We wordlessly headed up to my room, when I paused.

"Go on ahead, I'll join you in a minute," I told them. They barely reacted and continued their journey. I sighed, headed for my living room and sat at the dinner table. I just needed a minute by myself to think. Haaaaaah. What am I supposed to do? If I hadn't been so useless Yagami wouldn't have died.

"Oh, you're back," my mother says as she sees me at the table. "How was the pool?"

"Is there any point in being tactful or lying?" I ask myself more then her.

"Did you not have fun?" Mom asks. "It's okay Sweat Pea, just tell me what happened."

"Yagami's dead," I tell her.

"… What?" It seems like that wasn't what she had expected. "Wh… What?"

"She's dead," I tell her. "She… She's not alive anymore."

"I know what it means but… But what happened?" she asks as she sits down next to me.

"I wish I knew," I say. "We didn't get there until she was already dead. We didn't notice she was gone for a bit since we were too distracted. When we got there, we found someone bashing her head."

"O-oh my god," my mother puts a hand to her her mouth.

"What's with that?" oh, my father just walked in. He notices the atmosphere and falls silent. "Is something wrong?"

"My friend Yagami was just murdered," I tell him.

"She was kidnapped and beaten to death," mother provides a not entirely false explanation.

"What?" my father asks.

"We don't know who did it," I lie. "They ran away before we got a good look at them. We don't plan on tracking them down, if that's what you're wondering."

"I'd hope not!" Mother says. "We should contact the authorities, and her parents to let her know and-"

"No," I tell them.

"… No?" my father asks.

"No," I reaffirm. "What's the point? We have no leads to go on in regards to who killed her, and Yagami lived with Inko on their own so I don't think contacting her parents would do much good. We just… We just need a little time to ourselves."

"Are you sure?" my father asks. "If there's anything we can do, then please let us know."

"No, there isn't," I tell them. "There's absolutely nothing either of you can do. I don't even know why I bothered telling you. It's not any of your business and there's nothing we can do and I'm just so useless and-"

I stop talking when my mother pulls me into a warm embrace.

"It'll be okay, Sweet Pea," my mother tells me. "I'm sorry there's nothing we can do, but it'll be okay."

"How can you say that?" It was a legitimate question. Even if she doesn't know about Deus and everything, she knows that my friend was just murdered. How can she say that it'll all be okay?

"I don't know," my mother says. "I really don't. It's just a feeling I get. I guess it's just my job as a parent to tell you those kinds of things."

"Well it doesn't sound very convincing when you say things like that," my father says with a forced smile. "But I suppose it's all we can really say. But Sweetie, are you telling us everything?"

"No," I answer. "I'm not. How could you tell?"

"You've never been a good liar," my father tells me. "That's one thing that's never changed."

"Should I go on then?" I ask. "Explain what I probably should?"

"No need," he tells me. "If you're not going to say something, I'm sure you've got your reasons."

"I do," I confirm.

"And that's all that matters," he says. "I'll trust you."

"I wish you'd be more honest with us," my mother says. "But I'll trust you too. Just please promise me that you won't do anything rash, or carless."

"I promise," I tell them.

"Go on," my father says. "Go meet up with your friends. I'm sure you all have a lot to discuss."

I nod and prepare to head up to my room, when there's a knock on the door. My mom stands up to answer it, but I put a hand on her shoulder.

"I'll get it," I tell her. Before they can argue I walk to the door and reach for the doorknob.

"No no," I hear from the other side of the door. "Bawitdaba is just a word he used for the chorus of the song. It doesn't have any meaning beyond that."

"I get that, but why that word? Makes no sense to me."

"Well you see-"

I know that voice. I open the door and see Saku- Deus standing there, with someone right next to her.

"Ah! The gate opened," Deus says.

"Door," her companion corrects.

"Door, my apologies," Deus corrects.

"What are you doing here?" I ask her.

"I wanted to talk with you and your friends," Deus says. "We have a bit to discuss, do we not? Oh, before we go on, allow me to introduce my right hand. Scarlet, meet Nina."

"A pleasure," the aforementioned girl says with a bow. She had long, silver hair which was tied in a single braid. She had greyish eyes that never broke eye contact. She was wearing a long-sleeved dress that was half red and half blue and came down to her ankles. She had a very professional air about her, like she was the assistant of some powerful CEO or businessman.

"If you were to ask Yuki, she'd claim that she was my right hand girl, but she seriously overestimates her own usefulness," Deus says. "Nina here is significantly more useful. Healers are much more versatile than ice makers."

"I'm not a healer," Nina says.

"Oh, you're close enough," Deus dismisses the concern. "You're useful in ways besides it anyway. Yuki certainly couldn't have shown me the way here."

"How do you even know where I live?" I ask.

"Oh, we've known since day one," Nina says. "After Yuki left you and your friends alone, I had some friends of mine follow you home, just in case that information was needed."

"Good thing too," Deus says. "Otherwise I wouldn't have been able to have Nina show me here."

"My pleasure," Nina says. "I trust you can find your own way back?"

"Easily," Deus says. "You are dismissed."

Nina nods, then suddenly vanishes into thin air, leaving me and Deus alone.

"Well then. Would you kindly lead me to your friends?" Deus asks with a smile. "I do wish to have a nice communication with them."

"Chat. Or talk, take your pick."

"Talk," Deus corrects. "I wish to have a nice talk with them."

"Is that so? And why should I trust you?" I ask.

Deus opens her mouth to answer, then shuts it. She starts thinking about it for a while. After about a minute she suddenly has an epiphany.

"Ah! I helped you out that one time, didn't I?" Deus asks. "After the marionette?"

"Mannequin."

"The Mannequin," Deus corrects. "When you had that huge chunk of flesh taken out of your side and I helped heal you. Can I say that that's a favor you owe me? I really don't mean any harm, I just want to talk."

I start thinking about what to do. … I can't help by think that letting her anywhere near any of my friends would be a horrible idea. But can I trust this girl to not do anything awful if I refuse her? After a bit I sigh.

"Just don't burn the house down," I tell her.

"I make no promises," she says, still smiling.

I motion for her to follow me, and we headed upstairs to my room. I told her to wait patiently outside my room. I opened the door and found Inko, Inugami and Yukari looking rather solemn.

"What took you?" Inugami asks.

"I'll show you, but you guys have to promise not to try and kill anyone," I say.

"Why would we need to promise that?" Yukari asks, sounding suspicious.

I wave Deus inside, and everyone tenses up once she walks in.

"Hello everyone, how's your day been so far?" she asks.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Inugami growls.

"She says she wants to talk," I answer. "Whatever that may mean."

"It means exactly what it sounds like," Deus says. "I thought that there was a few topics we needed to discuss, so I dropped by."

"… Give me one reason I shouldn't smash your head in," Inko says, not even bothering to look at Deus.

"Hmm… Because I wasn't the one who killed your friend?" Deus offers. "Yes, I know my subordinate did it, and the boss is responsible for the subordinate's actions. However, I never once told Yuki to kill anyone, that was something she decided to do on her own."

"Liar," Yukari says.

"It's quite true," Deus insists. "I had actually told her to take a day off since I didn't want her dealing with any of this. She's been quite stressed out recently, and I figured it'd be beneficial for everyone if she calmed down a bit. It's unfortunate that you had to run into her, but whatever. Honestly, she's been such a tight missile lately."

"You mean loose cannon?" Inugami offers.

"Right, that was it," Deus says, rubbing the back of her neck. "A loose cannon. That's the phrase I was looking for. I've been thinking of cutting her loose, but her uses outweigh the damages. Plus it's better to keep someone like that close so you can keep an eye on them. Did you know she got a punching bag after you got away, Yukari?"

"I fail to see what that has to do with anything," Yukari says.

"Well, the punching bag is actually one of her underlings," Deus says. "When Yuki gets upset she start brutalizing the poor girl. She's a self-healing magical girl so none of the damage is permanent, but imagine if it wasn't a magical girl. I'm worried that if I fire her she'll go on some rampage and hurt a lot of innocent people. I mean, this is a somewhat special and troubling case for her, what with you abandoning ship and Yoko dying, but the point still stands. As such, I don't have a choice but to keep her around. What was your friend's name?"

"Her name was Miku Yagami," Inko replies.

"Thank you," Deus says. "Please believe me when I say I never meant for Miss Yagami to be killed. Yuki acted out of line and will be punished severely as a result. Hence why my assistant couldn't join us. She's busy healing Yuki back to perfect health so that my discipline will have it's intended effect. Yuki was already hurt pretty badly in that fight, so I imagine anything I would do wouldn't work as good as it otherwise would. I have zero tolerance for people who disobey me."

"What do you mean disobey?" I ask.

"I specifically ordered anyone who was going to attempt to retrieve Yukari to avoid getting you or your friends involved. None of what was going on was really your business, you just happened to be at the right place at the wrong time. I told them to wait for a time when Yukari was alone and then they could appropriate her."

"You mean kill me," Yukari says.

"Heavens no!" Deus says. "There's no need for that! Why would we need to kill you? All you did was run away. Nearly everyone in the group has thought about it at one point or another, you just happened to actually attempt it."

"Tell that to everyone else who tried to leave," Yukari says. "What about those that try to leave and get killed for it? Can you say that when everyone who gets even slightly displeased with your stupid group is killed? When they just roll the corpse off to the side and continue on like nothing happened?! Yoko's dead because of your fucked-up group!"

"I understand that Yoko's passing is a bit of an issue," Deus asks. "However, most magical girls witch out eventually, right?."

"She only turned into a witch because she used too much magic trying to fight back against Yuki," I inform her. "If Yuki hadn't tried to kill her, she'd still be alive and very much human."

"Excuse me?" Deus asks. "Yuki told me she witched out because she didn't bring enough grief seeds with her."

"Yuki killed Yoko," Yukari tells Deus. "It may have been indirectly, but Yuki is still the reason Yoko's dead. That's something you can be sure of."

"Why that little… Lying to my face and… It appears that extra discipline is going to be needed," Deus says, looking rather upset. She rambles on for a few more seconds, before taking a deep breath to try and regain her composure. "Sorry, I got a little angry for a second there. Don't worry, I'll make sure Yuki understands why what she did was wrong. Hopefully the next time we meet I'll be able to deliver her apology. I was hoping to be able to deliver that this meeting, but she's a stubborn girl. The only one she ever apologizes to is me. I think she's scared of me or something. Don't know why, but that's how it is. Anyway, don't worry, her torture will be extremely thorough."

"You do mean discipline, right?" I ask.

"She better not," Inko says.

"If the handler is angry enough then at some point the line between the two gets blurred," Deus says with a shrug. "Anyway, onto actual business."

"What business?" Inugami asks. "Weren't you just here for a chat?"

"Well, I am," Deus says. "I just wanted to see if we could reach some sort of understanding."

"What understanding is there to even reach?" Inko asks. "Because of you Miku is dead. Why would you ever think we would ever make a deal with you?"

"I said I was sorry about that," Deus rubs the back of her neck as she says that.

"Sorry doesn't even begin to cut it," Inko says.

"I get it," Deus says. "In your eyes all of us have long since crossed over into 'unforgivable' territory, right?"

"Obviously," Inugami says.

"Completely right," Inko says.

"I was hoping we could maybe come to an armament if nothing else."

"You mean armistice?" Inugami asks.

"That's the word!" Deus says. "Yes, an armistice. I wanted to see if we could make some kind of deal to leave each other alone if nothing else."

"And what would the terms be?" I ask.

"Scarlet, you can't be considering what she's saying," Inugami says. "She's obviously lying."

"Don't say something like 'she hasn't lied to me yet.' That doesn't mean anything right now," Yukari adds.

"Remember what she and her group have done," Inko tells me.

"Listen to the deal first!" Deus says. "I was thinking something like if Yukari comes back and rejoins my group-"

"Go to hell!" Yukari informs Deus of her decision very quickly.

"Then I was thinking of maybe giving you Yuki to do whatever you wanted," Deus finishes.

"Excuse me?" Inko says.

"I mean, I'd be getting the best deal, obviously," Deus says. "Getting rid of one useless and morally corrupt assistant in exchange for a very competent one. But it would at least give you a chance for some kind of vengeance, or karmic payback, would it not?"

"What do you mean assistant?" Yukari asks Deus.

"Did I never tell you?" Deus asks. Yukari shakes her head in response to the question. "Well, I was really impressed with your work and general attitude during all of your missions. You really were a pretty impressive employee. I was thinking of giving you Yuki's job at some point. Or maybe when if Nina ever became head of something then you could become her right hand girl, much like Nina's currently mine. My point is, I really did want you in a higher position in the organization, but then you and Miss Tsukihime ran away. If you were to come back to our group and take that job then I'll hand Yuki over to your friends, and from then on we'll all be happy. We'll leave you alone, you'll leave us alone, everyone wins. Except Yuki, but no one here really cares about that, I imagine."

"And why should we believe a word you're saying?" Inugami asks. "How do we know that you're telling the truth and not just planning to stab us in the back?"

"Well because…" Deus pauses. "Because... Darn, I really have been having trouble with this today. It's hard convincing people to listen to you when they have literally no reason to trust you. I ran into this pink-haired magical girl earlier today and tried to recruit her, but she didn't trust me either! Do I just have that untrustworthy of a face?"

"You're not making a good case for yourself," I tell her.

"Well I suppose all you have is my word," Deus says. "I know that's hardly enough to constitute anything resembling a guarantee of trust or anything, but it's all I have. I'm sorry."

"I want to say yes," Inko says, looking down at the floor.

"I-Inko?!" Inugami exclaims. "Do you know what you're saying? You would give Yukari back to the people who we've been against the whole time?!"

"I know but… But I really want to kill that stupid magical girl," Inko says, still looking down at the floor. "She killed Miku. She killed my best friend and… and…"

Inko looks at Inugami, who seems slightly startled to see that Inko is crying.

"I don't know what to do!" Inko declares, tears streaming down her face. "I don't know what to do anymore! Miku was always there to help me out and I just don't know anymore!"

She starts sobbing even harder, to the point of being unable to get any more words out. I sigh and grab a hold of my necklace and start fiddling with it as I try to think of something I can say to comfort her.

"Hmm? That necklace..." Deus says. "May I see it?"

I tighten my grip on the necklace.

"You touch it and you die," I growl at her.

"I just want to look!" Deus says. "I think I'm close to remembering where I saw it, and if you showed it to me then maybe it'd spark that last memory I need!"

I hesitate, but eventually decide there won't be any harm. I let go of my necklace and let it swing freely. It wasn't a very fancy necklace, it was just a small silver cross with a smaller, red cross inside of it hanging from some string, I don't know what the string was made of. Nothing else, no names engraved on it or anything. Despite there being nothing about it that stood out, Deus still had this weird look on her face, like she was thinking incredibly hard about it. After a few seconds, she breaks out into a huge grin.

"Oh my god! I totally just remembered you!" Deus says, her character completely changing. "You're Rem's little sister, Alessa!"

"E-excuse me?" I ask.

"Alessa?" Inko perks up at that name.

"Little sister?" Inugami asks.

"I remember you now!" Deus says. "We met a year ago! Back in Mitakihara, remember? You were protective of that necklace even then. You threatened to kick my shin if I took away the present your precious big sister gave you. Oh, how could I forget something like that? Well, I've been really busy the last year, and I suppose you're a lot different now. You're nothing like the little girl I knew back then. Oh well, puberty just hits some people like a truck I suppose. What happened to Rem? Is she out doing errands or something?"

"W-wait wait wait wait," I say. "What the heck are you saying? Who's Alessa, who's Rem? What are you even saying?!"

"What are you talking about? That's your name, Alessa," Deus tells me. "Wait a minute, what the heck's with that name? Scarlet. What's a Scarlet? I guess I shouldn't talk, I'm the one going around calling myself Deus, but I at least have a good reason for it. What's your excuse? Do you think you're that famous movie star or something? If so that's kind of stupid. Did Rem suggest that? She suggested my name, so I guess it wouldn't be too far of a stretch."

"Just shut up!" I yell at her. "Just shut up for a minute! I don't know what the hell you're saying!"

"… Alessa, what's the matter?" Deus asks, sounding genuinely concerned. She tries to take a step towards me, but Inugami steps between us.

"Don't even think about it," she warns.

"I'm just concerned about my best friend's sister!" Deus says. "Is something wrong with her? … Oh, I think I get it. She has amnesia, doesn't she? That explains why she doesn't seem to remember anything important. But wait, if she doesn't remember anything, and wasn't aware that she had a sister then that means Rem hasn't been home in a while. But she'd never abandon you, I know that for a fact. Oh… Oh dear."

"What now?" Yukari asks.

"Remilia's probably dead," Deus says.

"Wh-what did you say?" I ask.

"I'm just spitballing here, but makes sense," Deus says. "If she's dead then she wouldn't be around so you would never know you had a sister. I'm so sorry Alessa, I had no idea."

"I don't know what you're talking about," I tell her. My head starts throbbing, and I can't focus enough to continue any more conversation.

"No, you wouldn't, I suppose," Deus says sadly. "What with that memory loss and everything. … I'll be leaving now. Please seriously consider my earlier offer. The park, near the indoor pool. Come there tomorrow at midnight. I'll be there with Yuki. What ever you plan on doing is up to you. Alessa?"

"What?" I ask.

"I really am sorry," Deus tells me. "I am. I wish I could have done something to help Remilia."

With those as her parting words, Deus gives a curtsey and leaves my room. None of us said a word after she left. What was she talking about? Alessa? Remilia is my sister? She's dead? I don't… I don't even know what to think about anymore.

"Scarlet," Inugami says, breaking the silence. "Was what she said true? At all?"

"I don't know, I don't know!" I yell at her.

"O-of course it wasn't!" Yukari says. "She was saying that to try and build sympathy points! If she really was best friends with Scarlet's sister then that makes her significantly more trustworthy than some thug whose group killed our friend! She's trying to manipulate us by taking advantage of Scarlet's condition."

"But how do we know that for sure?" Inugami asks. "All we have is her word on that, Scarlet couldn't help us out here."

"We can ask her parents!" Yukari says. "We'll ask if they recognize Deus, and they'll say no because she's lying."

"There's no need for that."

"Inko?" I ask. "What do you mean by that?"

"The name reminded me," Inko says with a sad smile. "Alessa. Yes, I remember you now. You're the one who wished for the world to end. Well, not in so many words, but that was definitely the intent behind your wish."

"What's that supposed to mean?" I ask. "My wish? You mean the wish I made to become a magical girl?"

"That's exactly right," Inko says, still smiling sadly.

"Wait, Inko, how do you even know what her wish was?" Inugami asks. "Were you there when she made it or something?"

"Of course I was there," Inko says. "After all, I was the incubator who granted her wish in the first place."


	8. Chapter 8: So what happened?

**Author Notes:**

So, this chapter. Um… How about that? This chapter was a little late since I actually redid it from scratch, because the old version was crap. This version is thousands of times better. Still crap, because I can't write worth a damn, but much better than before. If you're curious, Remilia's magical girl power was the ability to pull apart and put together objects. Her witch was Mina, the reaper witch with a nature of separation. Scarlet's witch/real self is Tepes, the vampire witch with a violent nature. The name Mina came from Mina Harker, a character from Dracula, and Tepes came from Vlad Tepes, also known as Vlad the Impaler. I don't really have much to say about this chapter. Enjoy the chapter, see you next week!

**Chapter 8: "So what happened?"**

***April 30th, 2 years ago***

"Haaaaaaaaah."

"What's the matter Alessa?"

"I don't know about this," Alessa replies.

"What's there to not know? We're essentially going to live in Japan now. Is it that hard to understand?"

"I've got a bad feeling is all," Alessa says. "I feel odd about going there. I don't even speak Japanese!"

"I don't either. We'll learn. You're essentially smart, right?"

"No essentially about it! I'm way smarter than you, Remilia!"

"I'm essentially wounded," Remilia tells her little sister. "You won't even call me big sister anymore?"

"I can't call you that forever," Alessa says, hugging her stuffed rabbit close to her chest.

"Why not? I like it," Remilia says.

"Is that so? Well I'm sorry, but big sis is Remilia now!" Alessa exclaims. "Got it, Remilia?"

"I get it. Essentially I'm just disappointed by it," Remilia says with a frown. "I miss the days of you essentially being the youngest and most innocent thing ever."

"Remi," Alessa tries to grab her sister's attention.

"Back when you couldn't stand being alone to the point of essentially throwing a tantrum if I ever left the room."

"Remi," Alessa's tone grows slightly colder.

"Back when you would watch something scary and start crying and I'd have to hold your hand and pat your head until you essentially calmed down."

"Remi."

"Oh, whatever happened to my adorable little sister? My precious little sister who essentially means the world to me? What could have happened to her?"

"REMI!" Alessa shouts. "Stop that already, I'm embarrassed just listening to you."

"Embarrassing you is essentially my job," Remilia says, patting her little sister on the head. "That's why I'm the older sister."

"Only by two years," Alessa says. "I'll catch up to you in no time!"

"That's not essentially how time works little sis," Remilia says with a chuckle.

"Is that so? Well too bad for you, that's exactly how it works!" Alessa says. "In two years I'll be super grown up and mature and you'll still be like this, so I'll have caught up easily."

"What makes you say that?" Remilia asks. "You can essentially see into the future now?"

"No, I just know that I'll be way better and more mature than you. In two years you'll be the one asking me for advice on things! I'll be super smart!"

"Okay then little sis," Remilia says, still chuckling. "I'll hold you to that. We'll compare ourselves in two years and essentially see who is the more mature one, that sound okay?"

"Promise?" Alessa asks, holding out little finger out. Remlia smiles and wraps her little finger around Alessa's.

"I promise," Remilia says. "And it's a pinky promise, so you know I'm essentially not allowed to go back on my word."

"That's exactly right!" Alessa says, grinning widely. "Hey, Remi."

"What's up little sis?"

"Why are we moving to Japan?" she asks.

"Dad's job is asking him to move there," Remilia explains. "They're essentially building some kind of headquarters, or super building or something, and they want him to oversee it. You know, make sure everyone's essentially doing their job and working properly."

"Is that so? So why are they building one there?" Alessa asks.

"Heck if I know," Remilia says with a shrug. "Essentially it's a new city from what Dad has told me. Newer constructions have essentially just started so Dad's company wants to get in on it before the place gets too crowded."

"Is that so?" Alessa asks.

"Essentially it is," Remilia nods her head. "They've been wanting to expand out there for a long time anyway, and essentially this was the perfect time for it."

"What's the name of the city we're going to be moving too?" Alessa asks.

"Essentially it's… Mitakihara?" Remilia says. "I hope I'm pronouncing that even close to correctly."

"Mitakihara," Alessa rolls the words around a bit. "Is it a nice town?"

"I don't know," Remilia says. "I've essentially never heard of it before Dad told me about it. He said a few things about it, but I essentially can't remember any of them. I think they were good though. I guess we'll just have to find out!"

"Is that so?" Alessa asks, sounding very unimpressed.

"Hey, don't worry about it," Remilia assures her younger sibling. "Essentially it'll all be fine."

"You saying 'essentially' doesn't essentially inspire confidence," Alessa says.

"Is that so?" Remilia asks. Alessa blushes slightly and Remilia grins. "See, not so fun when it essentially happens to you, now is it?"

"No, it isn't," Alessa says. "I don't like it."

"Is that so?" Remilia asks once again.

"I hate you, big sis," Alessa says, burying her face in her stuffed rabbit to hide her blushing.

"Ah, don't be like that," Remilia says. "I'm just essentially poking a little fun."

"Is that so?" Alessa asks, still hiding behind her rabbit.

"So it is," Remilia says. "Alessa?"

"Yes, Remi?" Alessa asks, peaking out from behind her, ever so slightly from behind her stuffed shield.

"I've essentially got a present for you."

"Is that so?"

"Yep. But before I give it to you, you essentially need to put Mr. Fluffles on the ground and close your eyes."

"But Mr. Fluffles helps me when I'm scared," Alessa protests.

"Alessa, please? For me?" Remilia asks.

Alessa hesitates, but eventually relents. She closes her eyes and puts Mr. Fluffles the Rabbit on the ground. She feels a slight weight bump against her chest and opens her eyes.

"Huh?" Alessa asks, grabbing the object.

"It's my necklace," Remilia says, smiling at her sister. "Now whenever you're scared or don't know what to do you'll always have me around to help you."

"… But Remi, it's just a necklace," Alessa says. "Unless you've put some kind of microphone than I can't interact with you or anything."

"Oh, if you're going to be like that than I suppose I just essentially have to take it back," Remilia says, reaching for the necklace.

"No!" Alessa says, grabbing the necklace tightly and turning away from her sister. "My big sister gave it to me, I'm not giving it to anyone ever!"

"That's a good girl," Remilia says, patting her sister on the head again.

"Thank you Remilia," Alessa says. "I love you, big sis."

"I love you too, little sister," Remilia says with a grin. "Let's have fun in Japan together, okay?"

"Okay!"

***April 30th, one year ago***

"REMI!" Alessa called out. "Remi, where are you?!"

The ground begins shaking, and Alessa trips and falls. Alessa didn't know what was happening. A huge storm was supposed to hit that day, so she and her family were on the way to one of the designated storm shelters when their car had been struck by falling debris. They had gotten out and intended to continue on their way, but had gotten separated by earthquakes and more debris. Now Alessa was all alone.

"What's happening?" Alessa asked. "Storms aren't supposed to last this long, are they? Not the time. I have to find Remi and my parents."

Alessa firmly grasped onto her necklace and took a deep breath. Everything would be okay. She was sure of it. All she had to do was find her family. She started running as fast as she could through the empty streets of Mitakihara. Eventually she started growing tired, and had to rest. She stopped in a large plaza so she could catch her breath. It wouldn't do anyone any good if she collapsed in the middle of the road. She rested for only a few seconds, but already felt ready to go. She was about to rush off and continue searching for her sister when something in the sky caught her attention.

Gears and lace.

Those were the first two things to catch Alessa's attention. She had a hard time even describing what she was looking at. It appeared to be some kind of giant, upside-down jester with gears where its legs should be. It floated through the air, despite not having wings or anything that would allow it to fly.

"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" the witch's laugh reverberated throughout the entire town.

"Wh-wh-wh-what is that?" Alessa asks. "Is… Is it the reason all of this is happening?"

"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" The witch laughed in response.

Alessa covered her ears to try and block out the witch's laughter, but to no avail. The witch simply kept laughing, and laughing, and laughing.

"I need… I need to find my sister," Alessa decides. "Remi'll know what to do. She always knows what to do. Okay."

Alessa puts the witch's laughter behind her and continues running through the city. As she kept running, the laughter followed her.

"Stop it," Alessa says as she continues to run. "Stop laughing."

"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" The witch responds.

"Stop it, stop it, stop it!" Alessa yells. The ground begins rumbling again, and Alessa stops running and steadies herself to hopefully avoid tripping. A louder rumbling sound rang through the deserted street, catching Alessa's attention. She looks to the side and saw that a building near her had started collapsing.

"A-aaah!" Alessa yells as she starts running away. She sprints as hard as she can to get away from the falling building. It hits the ground, and dust and debris is sent into the air. Once it cleared, Alessa noticed that she had hit the ground face fist. Besides a cut on her forehead, she seemed mostly okay.

"That could have been worse," Alessa says. "I need to get away from here though. It's not safe. … Of course it's not safe, stupid."

Alessa tried to move, but realized she was stuck. She was momentarily confused, but soon realized her leg was trapped under a large chunk of rubble from the building.

"That's… That's probably what I meant by 'could have been worse,'" Alessa says. "I need to get out. One, two, push!"

Alessa used all of her strength to try and push the rubble off of her leg. Since the rubble was larger than she was, she failed. Instead of trying to move the rubble entirely, she instead tried just to lift it up just enough that she could slide her leg our from under it. That plan worked, and Alessa was able to free her leg. She smiled at her small victory and tried to stand up. She fell face first immediately and hit the concrete with a thud. Alessa looks at her leg again and notices how beaten and bloodied it is. She tries to move it, but nothing happens.

"I can't move my leg," Alessa notes. "This is bad. This is bad, this is bad thisisbadthisisbadthisisbadthisisbad."

Alessa grabs onto her necklace and takes a deep breath. Another deep inhale, another deep exhale.

"It'll be okay, it'll be okay," she tells herself. "I haven't completely lost my leg. I'll get some medical attention, it'll all be good. How am I going to get out of here though?"

Alessa starts thinking but stops once she sees the witch still floating through the air, doing as it pleases.

"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH-" the witch's laughter was cut short by the sound of an explosion.

"Huh?" Alessa says. All thoughts of getting away of there were brushed aside as she watched the scene unfold in front of her eyes.

A bright, pink light was leaping towards the jester. If Alessa squinted then she could barely make out what looked like the silhouette of a girl with her hair tied in two tails inside the pink light. The girl was rushing towards the thing. What was she doing?

"Is… Is she going to fight it?" Alessa asked.

"Yes, she is."

The unexpected voice startled Alessa. She looked to where it was coming from and saw what looked like a cross between a rabbit and a cat sitting on the rubble near her.

"Who are you?" Alessa asked.

"I'm Kyubey," the creature introduces itself.

"Kyubey… You said she's going to fight that thing?" Alessa asks.

"Indeed," Kyubey confirms. "Right now she's the only one who can."

"She's going to lose," Alessa says. "That thing is destroying this entire city. How can she even think she stands a chance against it?"

"Do you want to help her?" Kyubey asks.

"Me? What can I do?" Alessa asked.

"You can make a contract and become a magical girl," Kyubey said. "All you need to do is tell me what wish you want granted, and I'll give you the power to fight Walpurgisnacht and save Mitakihara."

"Wish? Walpurgisnacht?" Too many terms were being thrown at Alessa for her to understand. What was this thing? What was it talking about? Wish? If she had to make a wish right now, what would she wish for?

I just want to see my big sister again, Alessa thought to herself.

"I-"

"ALESSA!"

Alessa perked up at that voice.

"Remi?"

She turned away from Kyubey and saw her sister, standing a ways down the street. Alessa smiled as brightly as she could.

"Remi!" Alessa called out to her sister. "I'm right here! My leg really hurts, but I'm okay otherwise!"

"Just stay still, I'll essentially be right there!" Remilia called back.

"Kyubey, I'm sorry but I suppose I don't have a wish right now. … Kyubey?"

It seemed that the creature had disappeared while Alessa wasn't looking. Why would that be? Alessa didn't care too much, she was far too happy to see her sister again. Now they could get to the shelter, she could get medical treatment for her leg and everything would be fine.

A large boom was Alessa's first warning. She looked towards the boom and saw a building start falling to pieces. It slowly started tipping forward, and then it started falling. Alessa tried to get to her feet to run out of the way, but stumbled and fell. Her leg just wasn't in the condition it needed to be to get her away from the falling building.

"ALESSA!" Remilia called to her sister. She started running as fast as she could, hoping against hope that she could get to her sister and get them both away from the collapsing building.

Alessa knew better. She held onto her necklace as tightly as she could. She looked at her sister who was stilling running towards her and smiled.

"I guess this is goodbye, big sis," Alessa said quietly. Alessa smiled at her sister and kept smiling until the building fell down on top of her.

***15 minutes later***

Remilia had started digging through all the rubble immediately, praying that a miracle would have happened and she would find her little sister buried in the rubble, but mostly unharmed. Fate had not been kind to her that day. It took a while to dig through the rubble, but she had eventually uncovered Alessa's body. Or rather, she had uncovered all that remained. The rubble and debris had completely crushed the left side of Alessa's body. All that was left of her little sister was the beaten right half of her corpse.

"Alessa, I'm sorry," Remilia said, holding onto all that was left of her younger sibling. "I'm so sorry."

Remilia held onto her sister and started crying. She sat there and wept and wept and wept.

"I'm such a useless older sister," Remilia says. "I couldn't even keep you safe. I'm so sorry Alessa, you deserved far better than me. I'm so sorry."

"What would you give to have her back?"

"Huh?" Remilia asked. "What did you say?"

"My name is Kyubey," the creature introduces itself. "I asked what you would give to have your sister back."

"You can essentially bring her back?" Remilia asks.

"Easily," Kyubey says.

"Then do it!" Remilia yells at it. "Bring my sister back right now!"

"You don't want to know what will happen in exchange for your wish?" Kyubey asks.

"I don't care!" Remilia exclaims. "Just give my little sister back to me! Please! Please."

"Very well," Kyubey says. "Stand still."

There was an incredibly blinding light that forced Remilia to shut her eyes. When the light died down and Remilia could open her eyes, she saw her little sister was still in her arms. Unlike before, however, Alessa's body was put back together, and she had been completely healed. Except for the scar running down her back, she didn't even look like she had ever been injured at all.

"A-Alessa?" Remilia asks.

"Mmmm," the girl groaned slightly as she stirred awake. She looked around, not entirely certain where she was or why she was there. She paused when she saw Remilia's face. "Why am I not… Big sis? What just happened?"

Remilia didn't answer, and instead embraced her little sister as tightly as she could.

"Thank you," Remilia says. "Thank you God!"

"Big sis?" Alessa asks. "Are you okay?"

"We're both going to be fine," Remilia tells her. "We're both going to be just fine."

"Then why are you crying?" Alessa asks. "I don't think people cry as much as you are when things are going to be fine."

"I'm crying because I've never been happier than I am right now," Remilia says, hugging her sister tightly. "You essentially have no idea how happy I am to be able to hug you right now."

"Is that so?" Alessa asks. "I don't think I understand."

"That's okay," Remilia replies as she lets go of Alessa and stands up. "Come on, let's go. We need to go find Mom and Dad. … That's weird."

"What?"

"Where'd she go?" Remilia asked. "A friend of mine was just here. I hope she's essentially okay."

"I'm sure she'll be fine," Alessa says as she grabbed onto her older sister's hand. "Come on, we need to find Mom and Dad."

"You're right," Remilia said. "She's a tough one, after all. Let's go."

The two siblings walked through the quiet, empty streets of Mitakihara hand in hand. Alessa was thankful for the silence. That jester's laughter was incredibly grating.

***May 28th, 11 months ago***

"Remiiiii," Alessa complained as her sister walked through the door to their room.

"What's the matter little sis?" Remilia asked.

"Why are you always out?" Alessa asked. "I never get to see you anymore! What are you doing? … It's not a boy, is it?"

"No, it essentially isn't," Remilia confirms.

"So it's a girl?" Alessa asked.

"No!" Remilia says. "I've just been really busy. Essentially a friend of mine asked for help, and that's been keeping me really busy the past few weeks."

"But it means I get to see you less," Alessa complains. "I don't like it. Do they really need the help?"

"Yes, they do," Remilia says.

"I guess it's okay then," Alessa says. "I still don't like it."

"Work is never something to like."

"Oh, there you are Sakuya," Remilia said as her friend walked into her room. "Alessa, this is essentially my friend Sakuya. Sakuya, this is my sister."

"It's a pleasure to meet you," Alessa says as formally as she can.

"Name's Sakuya Izayoi, it's nice to finally meet you," Sakuya says. "Your big sis talks about you a lot."

"I don't talk about her that much!" Remilia protests.

"She talks a lot," Sakuya confirms. "Wow, you two look exactly alike. I'm amazed you two aren't twins."

"Yes, we're essentially similar," Remilia admits. "It's essentially just the blonde hair and red eyes, yet everyone thinks we look exactly alike. I've been thinking of essentially dyeing my hair or something so people don't get us confused."

"Dye it blue!" Alessa says.

"What, why blue?" Sakuya asks.

"This girl helped me out earlier today when a vending machine wouldn't work properly, and then she showed me around the town a little," Alessa begins her explanation. "She was super helpful and had short blue hair. What was her name? Something Miki, I think. Anyway, she had short blue hair and it looked really good on her! I think you'd look good like that!"

"It's essentially an option," Remilia says as she twirls a lock of her hair around. "I'll keep it in mind."

"Here's something to keep in mind," Sakuya says. "What's going on with you two?"

"Huh? What do you mean?" Alessa asks.

"Remilia filled me in on some details," Sakuya starts. "You're like, here in Japan because of your parent's jobs or something, right? And you're in this town at the moment because Mitakihara is cinder and rubble. What are you going to do now?"

"Oh, we're essentially staying in Japan for the foreseeable future," Remilia says.

"Is that so?!" Alessa asks excitedly. "I really do like it here. I mean, I want to go back to Italy eventually, but I really like it here!"

"Don't worry little sis, we'll be here a while," Remilia says. "Apparently it was decided that they're going to essentially build 'New Mitakihara' on top of the ruins of the old city. A sort of city wide memorial. It'll have all sorts of fancy doohickeys and whatchamacallits to keep it safe from another natural disaster like last month. Mom and Dad are essentially overseeing the construction so we'll be here until that gets finished at the very least."

"That sounds good," Sakuya says. She gets ready to continue and explain why that sounds as great as it does, but loses her thought process almost immediately. "Alessa, that's a nice necklace. Where'd you get it?"

Alessa grabs her necklace and turns away from Sakuya.

"Touch it and I'll get angry," Alessa says. "I'll kick your shins until you give it back."

Sakuya chuckles at the threat.

"She's such an adorable little sister," Sakuya says. "I'm totally jealous of you."

"You should be," Alessa says. "I'm Remi's little sister only!"

"Geez Rem, hog all the adorableness why don't you?" Sakuya says.

"I think I essentially will!" Remi says, hugging her little sister tightly. "She's my little sister, got it? No stealing!"

"Yeah! No stealing!" Alessa mimics her sister's words perfectly.

"Alright, don't worry about it," Sakuya says, holding back giggles as best as she can. "Ah, this has been nice, but I do need to go. Business to do."

"Business?" Alessa asks.

"Important business," Sakuya confirms.

"I'll go with you," Remilia says. "Just in case."

"Wh-what? No!" Alessa exclaims. "You just got back!"

"It's okay little sis, I'll essentially be back soon," Remilia assures her. "I'll be back soon and then we can go somewhere, okay?"

"Is that so?" Alessa asks. Remilia nods, and Alessa smiles. "Yay! Let's go to that arcade! I love it there!"

"Got it," Remilia says, returning the smile. "Once I get back we can essentially head to the arcade, alright?"

"Promise?" Alessa asks.

"I promise," Remilia says.

"Okay then. Bye big sis. Be careful."

"I'll be fine," Remilia says. "Come on Sakuya, let's essentially head out."

"Understood. See ya, Alessa."

"Good bye Miss Izayoi," Alessa responds.

"Just Sakuya is fine," she says. "I'm your big sister's best friend, don't be so formal."

"Is that so? Then, um… Good bye Sakuya," Alessa says.

"Much better," Sakuya says with a smile before she and Remilia leave Alessa alone in her room.

Alessa sighs and throws herself onto her bed. She lied there motionless as she wondered what was keeping Remilia away from her.

"Big sis, what's going on?" Alessa asks. "Does it have something to do with Kyubey? Remi, I know I'm supposed to be dead. Did you wish me back? Is that why you're so busy now? Make a wish and become a magical girl. That's what it said, didn't it? Remi, what are you doing out there?"

***October 28th, 6 months ago***

"Whew! That was difficult," Alessa said, wiping the sweat from her forehead. "Too bad I've been practicing!"

Alessa pats the dance game on the side and skips away. She loved this arcade. It was kind of small compared to others, but it was bright, energetic and had tons of fun games to play, including the aforementioned dancing game.

"Though I suppose it's not dancing if all you're doing is stepping on arrows in time to the music," Alessa muses. "Well, that's when you make your own choreography! That works just as well! Now, where'd Remi go?"

Remilia hadn't been feeling well the past few days, and Alessa was worried about her. Remilia was the one who suggested going to the arcade to try and perk herself up and while Alessa wasn't sure about that, she wasn't going to say no to her sister.

"She said she was going to the snack bar sooo… Where is the snack bar?"

Alessa started wandering around, asking some people if they had seen her sister. Several negative answers later and Alessa was starting to get worried. Did her sister suddenly have to take care of something? Would she be okay? Alessa held tightly onto her necklace and tried to calm down. She started scanning every single person she saw for some kind of familiarity. Alessa smiled when she saw a recognizable mess of blonde hair in the crowd. She prepared to call out to her sister, when she noticed something odd.

"Remi, where are you going?" Alessa asked quietly.

Remilia appeared to be heading for the back entrance. Why was she going there? Alessa grew increasingly concerned and decided to follow her. She followed her sister outside into the back alley. Once Remilia had arrived there, she fell to her knees and seemed to be holding onto something tightly.

"Remi!" Alessa called out, running up to her sister. "Remi, are you okay?"

"A-Alessa?" Remi asks.

"Yes, it's me! Remi, what's wrong?"

"I… I don't know," Remilia says with a sad smile. She unclasps her hands and looks at what she was holding. It looked like some kind of fancy jewel. "Essentially I overdid it, didn't I? Why else would my soul gem be so black?"

"Huh? Soul gem? Overdid it? Big sis, what are you talking about?"

"I guess it doesn't matter," Remilia replies, smiling sadly. "Not anymore it doesn't."

As she finishes her sentence, Remilia's soul gem shatters. The force of the soul gem shattering knocks Alessa onto her back. She pulls herself to her feet and sees that she's no longer in the arcade's back alley. Now she was in what appeared in a graveyard. The ground was a dull black, and the sky a depressing grey. The trees were dead and withered, and tombstones dotted the desolate landscape.

"Wh-where am I?" Alessa asked. "Huh? What's this say?"

Alessa was briefly distracted by the tombstones. She normally wouldn't have noticed them at all, but something strange had caught her eye.

"My name? Why is my name on this tombstone? No, wait a minute. Why is my name on every tombstone?"

Every tombstone had her name and a single date on it. April 30th. The day Walpurgisnacht had destroyed Mitakihara. Before Alessa could wonder why her name was written on the tombstones, a sound rang throughout the graveyard. It sounded like laughter.

"Th-that jester?" Alessa asks. She looks around for the sound, but didn't find what she was expecting. Instead of the jester, she saw what looked like death itself. It was a large skeletal figure, wearing a black, hooded cloak and carrying a large scythe. It's skeletal mouth opened and that laughter resounded through the air.

"No, that's not laughter. It's crying?" Alessa asks. "Remi? Did you… Is that what happened to you?"

The skeletal reaper didn't respond. It didn't even look at her. It simply kept roaming around the graveyard, checking every single grave and crying. Alessa wanted to approach her, but before she could, a flash of blue came in and attacked the reaper. It cried out in pain, and turned towards the blue flash. It was a girl, much like the pink girl Alessa saw fighting the Jester in Mitakihara. If this was just like back then, then this blue girl was-

"N-no!" Alessa cried out. "Don't hurt her! Don't hurt my sister!"

The blue magical girl didn't hear Alessa and continued the battle. The girl clearly had experience with battle, as she ran circles around the newly born reaper. The battle had barely gone on for a minute and a victor had already been decided. The reaper let out a final death cry, before slowly fading away. The graveyard scenery faded away and Alessa and the blue magical girl had returned the arcade's back alley.

"Whew, that could have been dicey," the blue magical girl said. "I was worried 'cause she looked super tough with that scythe and all, but a few ice blocks here, a few ice swords there and the day was won!"

The blue magical girl stopped talking to herself when she heard Alessa crying.

"There was someone else there? Ah crap, I need to pay attention to stuff like that more. U-um, you okay there? I'm Yoko Tsukihime, you are?"

"Y-you monster!" Alessa yells at Yoko before charging at her and trying to beat her. The punches had little impact, so it confused Yoko more than anything else. "How could you? HOW COULD YOU?!"

"H-hey, what's wrong?" Yoko asked. "The witch is gone, you're safe now, right?"

"Don't call her a witch!" Alessa yells. "That was… That was my sister, you murderer!"

"S-sister?" Yoko asks. "That reaper witch was your sister?"

"She's not a witch, she's my sister!" Alessa exclaims. "She's my sister and you killed her!"

"M-miss, I'm sorry but that wasn't your sister," Yoko begins her explanation. "Not anymore, anyway. I don't know exactly why, but your sister's soul gem got corrupted and she turned into a witch. If I didn't stop her she would have killed you and a whole lot of other people."

"Liar! Remi would never hurt anyone! She's the nicest person I've ever known, she'd never turn into something as horrible as that!"

"Unfortunately, Miss Tsukihime is telling the truth," Kyubey says, picking that moment to join the two girls.

"You're Kyubey, right?" Alessa asks.

"That is correct," Kyubey responds. "It's been a while, Alessa."

"What do you mean she's telling the truth?" Alessa asks.

"Remember the offer I gave you during Walpurgisnacht?" Kyubey asks. "To have your wish granted and become a magical girl? Your sister took my offer and brought you back to life, and became a magical girl as a result. What you just witnessed was the ending every magical girl meets. They fall into despair and become a witch. What you had witnessed was your sister's transformation into a witch. If Miss Tsukihime hadn't come along, she most certainly would have killed you."

"H-hey, Kyubey," Yoko interjects. "You don't really need to say it like that, do you? Maybe use a little more tact?"

"She asked for the truth, and so I gave it to her," Kyubey says. "I was simply answering her questions."

"She just lost her sister, you don't need to drop any more bombs like that on her!" Yoko protests. "You're just putting more emotional baggage on her with that!"

"It's okay," Alessa says. "Hey, Kyubey."

"Yes?"

"You said you can grant any wish, right?" Alessa asks.

"H-hey there, you can't be thinking of becoming a magical girl, can you?" Yoko asks. "You just saw what happens if you're not careful, you should think about-"

"Shut up for a minute," Alessa tells her. "Kyubey, answer the question."

"Provided you have enough potential then any wish is trivial," Kyubey says. "You appear to have quite a bit of potential, so I imagine whatever wish you would make would be child's play. I assume you desire to wish your sister back?"

"Before I make my wish, one last question," Alessa says. "There's lots of magical girls, right?"

"There are magical girls all over the world, if that's what you're asking," Kyubey says.

"Is that so? And they all end like that, right?"

"Correct."

"Even that jester at Mitakihara?"

"Even Walpurgisnacht was once just an ordinary girl with a wish," Kyubey confirms.

"I get it now," Alessa says. "I know what wish I want granted. I wish you had never come to Earth in the first place!"

"E-excuse me?!" Yoko asks.

"Do you truly understand the implications of such a wish?" Kyubey asks. "My kind have been on earth since the prehistoric era. The reason Humans have been able to advance as much as they have in such a short time was because of my kind granting your wishes. If we had never come to Earth then it's incredibly likely that you humans would still sharpening rocks in caves."

"You think I care?!" Alessa asks. "You think I care about anyone else right now? You killed my sister, you killed who knows how many people in Mitakihara, you killed who knows how many people through history! I don't care if the entire world were to just end right now, I want all of this gone! I wish you and anyone like you had never come to Earth in the first place!"

"… Very well," Kyubey says.

"W-wait a minute, you can't actually mean to grant a wish like that?" Yoko asks.

Yoko's question goes unanswered as a bright red light shines throughout the alleyway. The light kept growing and growing until it eventually covered the entire world.

***April 24th, present day***

"So what happened?" I ask, after hearing that entire story.

"I assume you mean why are there still incubators and magical girls if your wish was granted?" Inko asks.

"Exactly," I say with a nod. "I made the wish and it was granted. What happened?"

"I can answer that, if you would allow me" Kyubey says, entering through the window. "Once your wish had been granted, we assumed we would either still be on our world, or would have settled on a different one. What we didn't assume was that the other world we wound up on would be a different Earth. Your wish spared your earth, but at the cost of another. I believe the term for that would be 'equivalent exchange.' Since very little had changed for us, we continued our business. Eventually, once that information had become known to a select few humans, a certain girl wished that we would go back to our original world. Once again, we assumed this would mean we would be pushed back to our homeworld, as I'm sure was the intent behind the wish. Instead, we were back here. Don't worry Alessa, it isn't that your wish was never granted, it's effects were simply cancelled out by another wish."

"I can confirm his story, if you want," Inko said. "I was the reason any of that happened, after all."

"But then why are you a human now?" Inugami asks. "I don't want to imagine that the kyubeys think that looking human would make us more likely to trust them."

"Someone on that other Earth was displeased with our deals, and wished that we could see what is was like from their perspective," Inko explains. "I was the incubator granting that wish and as a result, I was transformed from an incubator to a magical girl."

"That explains why we didn't remember making a contract with you," Kyubey says.

"What do you mean?" Yukari asks.

"Despite being many different units, we incubators share a network," Kyubey explains. "This doesn't mean that we always know what every other incubator is doing, but we can request necessary information from other units. Since the unit you call Inko was the one who held the information about Alessa and Remilia's wishes and she had been removed from the network by that person's wish, we could no longer access that data."

"Conversely, I can no longer access any of the other incubator's data either," Inko says. "As useful as it would be for me to pull information about Yuki, Nina and Deus so we could have the upper hand, that simply isn't possible."

"But there's still one thing bugging me," Inugami says. "I more or less get what's happened up to this point, but what about Scarlet's memory loss? What happened with that?"

"It's actually easy to form a hypothesis if you think about it hard enough," Inko says. "Scarlet wished for a world with no incubators. A world without incubators means no magical girls and no witches. How long do you believe a magical girl would last without witches to hunt and grief seeds to consume?"

"You're saying… You're saying I became a witch?" I ask.

"No, I'm theorizing that you became a witch," Inko says. "The only one who knows for certain would be you, as you were the only one there. It's a logical conclusion to draw however. When a magical girl becomes a witch, they lose their senses of self and their minds are twisted beyond recognition. It's possible that when you became a witch you simply lost all the information from your past life and spent the rest of your time in that world rampaging around. After all, normal people can't see witches, and conventional weapons are very ineffective. Nothing could have stopped you."

"But that makes no sense!" Inugami says. "If Scarlet witched out, then why is she so human now? Should she be some kind of monster running around, eating people and all… oh wait a minute."

"What? Why wait a minute?" Yukari asks.

"Um… Scarlet?" Inugami seems to be asking me for permission.

"Sometimes I go really insane," I explain. "I tend to eat necks when that happens. I ate the neck of some thug that was mugging Inugami, and I completely devoured a witch a bit ago."

"You… You what?" Yukari asks.

"Interesting," Kyubey says. "You must have been a very aggressive witch for that impulse to stay with you even when human."

Witching out explains the impulses, and as for why you're human, I think I have an answer for that as well," Inko says. "Remember, we incubators were on another Earth until someone wished us back. The day you woke up with amnesia and met everyone was the same day that that girl had made her wish. So, since you made the original wish, you kept your memories of the old world without incubators and that's why you woke up with no memories. You woke up with your witch's mind, albeit more under control than normal since you were human and had better impulse control."

"But why is she human again?" Yukari asks. "I think I kind of get the amnesia thing, but shouldn't she still have become a witch somewhere along the way?"

"Not exactly," Kyubey says. "Remember, she became a witch because there were no witches to hunt or grief seeds to consume. Now a reality exists where she was a magical girl with many witches to hunt. It's not a stretch to assume that she was able to live off of those witches until the day the girl made her wish and Scarlet woke up with no memory."

"This is making my head spin," Inugami says. "All this weird talk. I really don't know if I get it, but it basically boils down to 'Scarlet is a witch,' is that right?"

"That's correct," Kyubey says.

"I don't believe it," Yukari says. "Scarlet's way to passive to be a witch. Besides, how could she be a witch and become human again? Isn't that supposed to be impossible? I don't buy it."

"It makes sense," Inko says. "Miku… Miku told me something a bit ago, before she died. Scarlet, you can understand the witches, right?"

"What? You can?" Inugami asks.

"Not quite. The one witch I had to translate spoke in those weird runes that the witches always have," I explain. "I can read those easily."

"Just to confirm, could you please right your name down?" Inko asks, handing me a pencil and paper.

"Which name?" I ask. "Scarlet or Alessa?"

"Whatever you think is your name, I want you to write it down," Inko says. "Trust me."

I give her a confused look, but do as she says. I write down my name on the paper and hand it to her.

"Scarlet, you'll have to do me another favor and translate," Inko says, showing me what I wrote on the paper. "I may be an incubator, but even we haven't figured out how to translate witch runes yet."

"It says Tepes," I say, looking at the paper. "Tepes? Why did I write that?"

"... Let me try something," Inugami says. "Hey, Tepes."

"Yes?" I ask. "Huh? Why'd I react-"

"That's your name," Kyubey says. "Rather, it's your witch's name. That explains why you can read witch runes so easily, you're brain is still hardwired as a witch's brain. How interesting. You truly are an intriguing magical girl."

"That's enough Kyubey, you can leave," Inugami says.

"She's saying, 'get out before we force you out,'" Yukari translates.

"Very well," Kyubey says, turning and heading for the window. "Do let me know if you find out anything else. I'm truly interested to see where this goes."

Kyubey takes his leave, leaving me and my friends alone in my room. The room was eerily silent. All I could do was sit on my bed and hug my knees to my chest. I'm supposed to be dead? I made such a stupid wish? My sister's dead? I'm just a witch pretending to be a regular girl?

"Scarlet, are you okay?" Inugami asks.

"No," I tell her. "No I'm not. I'm going out for a bit. I need some time alone."

I left my room and walked out of my house. I just want to find someplace quiet where I can think. Eventually I settled for sitting on the roof of this old arcade that wasn't too far away from my house. I just sat on the roof alone and thought about what to do now.

"Remilia," I let the unfamiliar word leave my mouth. "Remi, what am I supposed to do now?"

I hold onto my necklace as tightly as I can.

"Remi, please. I don't know what to do anymore."

I didn't get a response, of course. All I got was complete silence.


	9. Chapter 9: So who's fighting who?

**Author Notes:**

I'm sorry this chapter is so late. Have a longer chapter, as well as the next chapter to make up for it. Now for the actual author notes.

Just a warning, I had fun writing this chapter. Make of that what you will. As for actual notes, there is quite a bit to talk about this chapter. Firstly, the four new girls hardly even qualify as minor characters, so don't worry about them too much. I just thought, "wait, this group has access to hundreds of able bodied magical girls, why would they not call in a few to provide backup?" And so, backup was called in. Want to guess the Touhou references? It's not that hard to figure out. Alice is based on Alice Margatroid, Momiji is based on Momiji Inubashiri, Sanae is based on Sanae Kochiya, and Yami is based on Youmu Konpaku. Well, in terms of weaponry and appearance. Personality is quite different for all of them. Momiji and Sanae actually came from an older idea for this story. Originally instead of just Yuki being a pain in the protagonist's side, it was going to be a group of three, Yuki, Momiji and Sanae. Momiji and Sanae were demoted, and Yuki was promoted, so this is their cameo. Alice and Yami are actually characters from different Madoka Magica stories I had ideas for, so I threw them in here because why not. Since we're slightly on that topic, Nina's magical girl outfit (and ability, sort of) are based on Sakuya Izayoi. Touhou Sakuya stops time to throw a bunch of knives, while Nina speeds herself up, creating to illusion of time stopping, to throw a whole bunch of knives. Yeah, Deus, the character based on Sakuya, didn't get Sakuya's appearance or abilities, those went to the Eiren character. Who would have thought?

Speaking of Nina, she referred to Yukari and Yuki by their last names. Yakumo and Tsukihime respectively. Yukari's last name is a reference to Yukari Yakumo from Touhou. Kind of weird, since this Yukari is based on Yukari Takeba from Persona 3, but oh well. Yuki's last name is Tsukihime. Where did we hear that last name before... Oh yeah, Yuki and Yoko are sisters. That didn't really play into the story, hence why it's only being mentioned here.

Also, the talk that Inugami and Scarlet have at the start of this chapter? Originally it was going to be part of last chapter, but it didn't work as well, so it got moved to this chapter. Funnily enough there was also a conversation between Scarlet and her mom in this chapter, but that got moved to next chapter due to pacing and length concerns. I feel kind of bad for Inugami, now that we're on the topic of her. She has enough experience and is tough enough that she could destroy any one of those magical girls in a one on one fight, but you throw five of them at her at once and all I could do was write her getting utterly beaten. At least she and Yukari had pretty much beaten Yuki before that point, so there's that.

Speaking of "fights," Inko vs Deus wasn't shown. Well, I didn't have fun writing Inko just getting toyed with by Deus and her million magical girl abilities, so I skipped it. I feel bad, but I'd rather have the fight offscreen then have a really crappy, drawn out slaughter. That's just not fun. If you hear Deus's power and think "wow, she's got hundreds of magical girl abilities that she can use whenever she wants? She's so overpowered!" You'd be right. Deus is horribly overpowered. It wasn't really Inko's fault she lost, there isn't anyone in the story at the moment who could fight Deus one on one and actually live. She's in charge of her group for a reason.

Fun fact about the Scarlet/Nina fight: it originally had a different ending. It always boiled down to stopping her from moving, but the way Scarlet stopped her from moving was a bit different. See, originally Scarlet had a revolver for long range attacks, in addition to her spear. The gun went to Yagami eventually, but that's not important. The Nina fight originally ended with Scarlet shooting Nina in the spine, paralyzing her from the waist down. She's a magical girl so she'd heal pretty quickly, but she'd still be out of the fight. Around the time I actually remembered Nina's backstory and how she became a magical girl, I had a good hearty laugh and realized that paralyzing her would be a little too cruel. One last thing about the fight, and about Nina's role in the story in general. This fight was originally between Scarlet and Yukari. Yeah, the original plot was that Yukari was too nice and didn't approve of any plan that involved killing anyone and tried to stop Scarlet and her friends from killing Deus or her group. That plot point got tossed really quickly when it didn't make any sense for Yukari to not want everyone involved with Deus's group dead, so Nina was introduced, and we still got our fight. Oh, the original ending, what with shooting Nina's spine and paralyzing her? Remember, Yukari was the original opponent. That outcome would have been weird for both sides involved, I would have to imagine.

So, I've rambled about useless things for long enough, enjoy the story! Since this and the next chapter are getting posted at the same time, I'll probably do the same for the final two chapters next week. That's right, next week is the grand finale! See you all then.

**Chapter 9: "So who's fighting who?"**

The silence that surrounded me was broken by the sound of someone landing on the roof.

"There you are!" Inugami says. "Don't just run off like that. Do you know how worried we were?"

I don't reply.

"Hey, you alright?" Inugami asks, sitting down next to me. "Scarlet, what's-"

"Don't call me that," I tell her.

"Oh, right, that's not your real name," Inugami says. "Well then, Ale-"

"Don't call me that!" I yell at her. "Scarlet, Alessa, Tepes, don't call me any of those! I don't want to hear it!"

"What's the matter?" Inugami asks.

"Why do you even have to ask? I'm a witch. Or was. My sister's dead, I made a stupid wish, I should have died twice and I don't know anymore! There I was, thinking that getting my memory back is supposed to be this grand, perfect thing that'll tie up my mental state in a nice pretty bow and now all I've got is this talk about things I don't know or understand. Mitakihara, Walpurgisnacht, Remilia, Sakuya, Yoko, all these names I should know but don't. All these things and events that I was there for that no longer mean anything to me, but I still have to put up with the consequences. I don't know what to do anymore. Deus runs this magical girl yakuza so we need to stop her, but she's friendly and was my sister's best friend. Yuki is evil and we have the opportunity to kill her, but we have to give up Yukari to do it. I knew Yoko way before all this, but she turned into a witch and I helped kill her. Everything just piled up around me and I don't know what to do anymore. Remilia always had the answers I wanted and she's gone, so I don't know what to do. The obvious answer is do what I feel I should do, but what do I want to do? Do I want to do something Alessa would want to do? Do I want to do something Scarlet wants to do? Do I want to do something Tepes would want to do? I don't know who I am anymore and that scares me."

I take a deep breath and let it out as a sigh.

"I just... I don't know anymore," I sum up. "Inugami, just who am I?"

"In all honesty, I don't really care," Inugami says.

"Oh. Is that so?" I ask, mildly upset at her answer.

"What I mean is, what does it matter who you are?" Inugami asks right back. "Whether you're Alessa the human, Scarlet the magical girl or Tepes the witch, what does that change? If you want to do something, do it. It's probably because I'm not in your situation, but I don't see how the name you call yourself changes what you feel like doing. Let me ask you a question. What would your sister do?"

I think really hard about it for a while. I feel like I have a good enough grasp on her character to make a guess. I get ready to answer, but Inugami holds up her hand.

"Good. Now, answer this. Is that course of action what you want to do?"

I think about the question even more. After a minute, I shake my head.

"One last question. Did your name, your identity, or who you are matter at all in you deciding that?"

"No," I answer. "No it didn't."

"So don't bother worrying about that!" Inugami tells me as she ruffles my hair a bit. "You're you. Nothing else matters."

"Is that so?" I ask. "I don't know if that quite fixes it, but I think it helps. Thank you, Ui."

"Don't mention it," she says with a smile. "Yukari and Inko are really worried about you. Let's go back and tell them what you want to do about all this."

"I'd like that," I tell her.

Our talk finished, we leapt off the roof of the arcade and headed back to my house.

"So what should I call you then?" Ui asks as we roof-hopped our way home. "Alessa or Scarlet?"

"You can call me whatever you want," I tell her. "I'm me, my name doesn't really matter that much, does it? … I like Scarlet though."

"Scarlet it is then!" Ui declares. "So, now that you know about your past and memory loss and stuff, do you think you'd be able to remember more stuff?"

"I don't know," I tell her. "It could happen. I think stuff that was a huge part of my brain stuck with me. I'm still attached to Remi's necklace, for example."

"Is that so?" Ui asks.

"There's that phrase too," I say. "So if I concentrate hard enough I might be able to remember something else. Something that was a huge part of my thought process before I turned into a witch. Hmmmmm."

"Coming up with anything?" Ui asks after I spent a small amount of time thinking.

"I like pink hair."

"Excuse me?"

"I like pink hair," I repeat.

"I heard what you said!" Ui says. "It's just… Pink hair? Not, like, the names of any friends, or past life experiences? Pink hair?"

I nod.

"Pink hair in twintails, if possible," I tell her. "That seems like an unbeatable combination in my mind."

"…I wonder if I could pull off that look."

"What'd you say, Ui?" I ask. "I didn't quite catch that."

"I was wondering why that was the first thing to pop into your head!" Ui yells at me. "You remember your preferences before you remember things that most people would consider more important. You are the weirdest girl I've ever met."

We made small talk like that on the way back home. Once inside we were heading up to my room to begin planning.

"So what are we going to do?" Yukari asks. "Are we seriously considering their offer?"

"I don't know if we can trust them," Ui says. "Even if Deus is telling the truth, her group is still responsible for quite a few deaths, including trying to kill Yukari, and succeeding in killing Tsukihime."

"As long as our plan ends with Yuki dead, I'm open to any plan you come up with," Inko says.

"You're a vengeful little incubator, aren't you?" Ui asks.

"We don't have emotions normally, but I'm a magical girl now," Inko says. "Since I don't have much experience, I'm very bad at hiding what I'm thinking."

"Is that so?" I ask. "Well first we need to decide something. Are we agreeing to Deus's deal?"

"Absolutely not," Yukari says.

"I can't think of any way it could be a good idea," Ui says.

"Yukari's a friend, and I don't want to lose another one," Inko says. "Even if it means killing that stupid girl."

"So we're all in agreement," I note. "The deal is not happening. So what happens next, we just stay here and ignore her, hope she leaves us alone?"

"The odds of that happening are near zero," Yukari says. "You heard what she said, she really wants me back in the group. I doubt she'll just leave us alone. If anything, ignoring her will probably make her more aggressive."

"I have my doubts she'd try to kill us or anything, but yeah, she'll probably start trying more forceful methods," Ui says. "Even if she doesn't kill us, she'd beat the hell out of us until she gets Yukari back. Is there anyway we can hopefully avoid that?"

"Perhaps we could try an ambush?" Inko suggests. "Go to the meeting place, pretend we're agreeing to her proposal and then attack her?"

"But she's supposed to be super strong, isn't she?" Ui asks. "You sure we could take her?"

"There's fi- sorry, four of us," Yukari corrects. "The stories about her have to be exaggerations. There's no way any one magical girl could be as powerful as she's been built up, so I imagine if we work together we can take her down easily."

"It wouldn't be four on one," I tell them. "Remember she has her friend, Nina? Considering Nina is apparently her right hand girl, it's a safe bet that she would be there as well."

"Yukari, you know anything about her?" Ui asks.

"Sorry, I don't," Yukari says with a shake of her head. "I wasn't in Nina's unit, so I never spent any time with her. I knew of Deus and Nina, obviously, but I only ever met them face to face once, during a lunch break. The meeting didn't involve anything regarding their power sets. That is, unless you consider the fact that Deus likes spicy food to be related to her abilities. I think I've heard that Nina is a healer, so there's that."

"Nina claimed she wasn't a healer when Deus called her one a little earlier," I say. "Deus did say she was close enough though, so there's that."

"That's probably something we can worry about during the actual fight," Ui says. "After all, we would still have the number advantage on them. I think we could probably split into pairs and take each of them on two on one. Those are still a pretty good set of odds."

"That sounds good," Yukari says.

"So who's fighting who?" I ask.

"Um…" Inko speaks up. "If possible, I would like to fight Deus. If it wasn't for her then the group never would have existed, and Yuki never would have gotten the chance to kill Miku."

"I can fight her too," I say.

"You sure?" Ui asks, to which I nod my head. "Alright, so that leaves me and Yukari on Nina clean up duty. Sound alright to you?"

"I'm okay with it," Yukari says. "Healer vs healer. It's almost poetic."

"So are we going to have a cue or anything?" Ui asks. "We need something to signal when to start the fighting if we want this to go as smoothly as possible."

"Is that so?" I ask. "What if I just said, 'let's fight?'"

"A little obvious, inn't it?" Ui asks.

"Yeah, but they're probably not expecting it," I tell her. "They'll be confused for a second and that'll give us our change to charge in and get started."

"What a weak plan," Yukari says. "I kind of like it. If they do expect us to do some kind of ambush, I doubt they'd expect something that bullheaded. They'd probably expect something more clever and drawn out."

"I mean, there's certainly something to be said about the simplest ideas," Ui says. "I don't like it that much, but I can't think of anything better."

"So we'll arrive at the meeting spot at the appointed time and play along. Once Scarlet gives her signal we will begin our attack," Inko sums up our plan. "Would that be correct?"

"That's correct," I say.

"So are we all ready for this then?" Ui asks. "This could get really dangerous."

"Not like we have a choice," Yukari says. "We have to finish this as soon as we can."

***The next night***

"Ah, you've departed!" Deus said, one we had arrived at the park.

"Arrived," Nina corrects her boss.

"Arrived, right, my apologies."

"Who gives a shit about the words?!" Yuki yells from the floor. "Let me go right now! Boss, what the hell are you even doing?"

"Hush," Deus says as she kicks Yuki in the side. "The grown ups are having a conversation right now."

"Screw you!" Yuki says. "Untie me and let me get those bitches right now!"

"I was prepared to ask why she was all tied up, but now I'm kind of glad," Ui says.

"Could you have maybe tied something around her mouth as well?" I ask.

"I thought about it," Nina admits. "It took longer to heal her than I originally planned, so I didn't have enough time to tie both hand her over to the Boss for discipline as well as go rope hunting."

"Why are we even here?!" Yuki demands to know. "Boss, I've been the best, most loyal employee ever! I was there when you started this stupid thing, and now you're just handing me over to these assholes?"

"Hush," Deus says, kicking Yuki in the side again. "We're talking now. You can have your words in a minute."

"I don't like the idea of letting her actually say anything," Inko says.

"It's mostly just her voice," Yukari says. "Her voices kind of pisses me off."

"Oh, let's just ignore her and have our discussion," Deus says, rubbing the back of her neck. "So, incase you forgot-"

"No offense intended," Nina tells me.

"I suppose we should discuss the terms again," Deus says. "So Yukari will rejoin my organization and we will hand over one Miss Yuki for your torturing pleasure."

"What the hell, Boss?!" Yuki exclaims.

"Those seem somewhat acceptable," Yukari says.

"Excellent!" Deus says with a grin. "Now, I suppose I can count on you to provide this immoral subordinate some karmic justice?"

"Immoral?!" Yuki asks. "You're one to talk!"

"I believe we've told you to be quiet," Nina says, drawing a knife from her sleeve.

"Oh sure, kill me, or give me to those jackasses and have them kill me," Yuki says. "Now no one will be around to mock your screwed up morality!"

"You're hardly in a position to say anything like that," I tell her.

"Please!" Yuki says. "Compared to Boss, I'm a goddamn saint!"

"I admit to not being a saint, but I find that hard to believe," Deus says.

"Oh come on! Okay Boss, what it some random person were to just walk through here and stumble upon this magical girl bullshit?" Yuki asks. "You'd just kill them, wouldn't you?"

"Sure, but I fail to see what that has to do with anything," Deus says.

"Excuse me?" Inko says.

"This twisted bitch has no problem killing anyone who isn't a magical girl just for catching wind of the fact that we exist," Yuki explains.

"Our world and their's should stay separate," Deus tries to defend herself.

"Oh, bullshit!" Yuki says. "You sound like those stupid incubators!"

"Is that an insult?" Inko asks me. I shrug.

"Yeah, I'm a shitty person," Yuki says. "I've accepted that, and I've learned to live with it. At least my kill count hasn't hit the triple digits yet!"

"You're not too far away from those numbers yourself," Nina says.

"And really, if we're talking kill counts, mine is really closer to four digits," Deus says, rubbing the back of her neck. "If you're going to insult me like that, at least get your numbers right."

"What?" I ask.

"After over a year of dealing with magical girls and assorted normal people, I lost count of how many people I've had to off," Deus says. "It stopped bugging me a while ago. That said, unlike the bound one here on the ground, I always have a reason for killing people. There's nothing more apprehensible to me then killing someone for no reason. That and disobeying orders angers me to no end, and this little ice cube is horrendously guilty of both."

"B-but… You… So many people?" Inko can barely get the words out. Ui, Yukari and I are similarly stunned.

"Honestly by this point it's a bad habit or a reflex more than anything," Deus says. "If some jogger happened to walk by here I'd have taken their head off and not even noticed. Luckily most people I accidentally decapitate are my subordinates, so they're either quick enough to dodge, or have a good enough healing ability to bounce right back. Even then, it's a quite worrying habit, to be honest."

"Y… You can't be serious," Ui says.

"See?" Yuki asks us. "I may be an asshole, but at least I'm not as horrible as Boss."

"Miss Tsukihime, you'd best ready an apology," Nina says, readying her knife.

"What, you think I'm going to apologize to you?" Yuki asks. "I don't apologize to people below me. If you want an apology, Boss is going to have to get one out of me herself."

"I'm sure that won't be necessary," Deus says. "So you told Alessa and her friends that I'm the bad guy here. Congratulations, you confirmed what they already knew. What were you hoping to accomplish?"

"Scarlet," Inko whispers to me. "I want to make her pay."

"I agree," I tell her. "Everyone, let's get started."

Inko transforms and leaps towards Deus before I even finish my sentence. Deus doesn't seem surprised as she jumps backward to avoid Inko's mace. Deus's golden spear appears in her hand and she and Inko begin their duel. I transform and get ready to join her, but I'm stopped by a block of ice growing around my ankle and trapping me in place.

"You're not going anywhere," Yuki says, standing in her magical girl outfit. The ropes that were keeping her tied up have are spread out among the grass in frozen chunks. I shouldn't have really expected normal ropes to keep a magical girl tied up. "I have a nice little plan in my head for how this night goes, and I need for you to take a nice little nap for a minute!"

Yuki creates a sword of ice and leaps towards me, intent on chopping me in half. She's stopped mid leap by a mass of white fur charging into her. Seems like Ui will take care of her. I break the ice around my ankle with my spear and prepare to assist Inko in the fight against Deus, when something appears in my field of vision.

"Going somewhere?" Nina asks, having transformed into her magical girl outfit. It look like a very stylized maid outfit. Fitting, considering she's Deus's assistant. She pulls six knives out of nowhere and prepares to toss them at me, when a barrage of arrows forces her to back off.

"Leave my friends alone," Yukari tells her, bow drawn and ready to fire. Even though I've gone patrolling with her on many occasions, very rarely do I actually see her in her magical girl outfit. It was a bright pink suit, with something resembling a cape. She looked like she belonged in one of those fancy television shows. You know, the ones with the hilarious outfits, incredibles poses, monster both giant and small, and explosions.

"Thanks for the save Yukari, now go help Ui," I tell her.

"You sure?" she asks.

"She has ranged attacks, Ui doesn't," I tell her. "I can handle a stupid maid."

Yukari nods and heads off to battle Yuki. I grip my spear tightly and glare at Nina.

"You think this is a smart choice?" she asks. "Perhaps it would have been a better idea to have Miss Yakumo fight me so you can assist Miss Inko against my Boss?"

"Inko's strong," I tell her. "She'll be fine. I'm more worried about Ui. She's a bad match up against Yuki. Yuki can fight up close and far away with her ice, while Ui can only fight well in close quarters. Yukari has arrows, so she can cover Ui. Simple, isn't it?"

"Perhaps," Nina admits. "Though what exactly do you plan to do against me? You don't even know what my magic is. I'm not a healer, remember?"

"I remember you saying something to that effect," I confirm. "I suppose I'll just have to find out."

Finally finished exchanging words, me and Nina charge at each other and begin our battle.

***Scene Break***

"What is your deal?!" Yukari yelled at Yuki as she shot her arrows. "Why are you fighting us? Shouldn't you be pissed off at your employers?"

"Don't misunderstand me," Yuki says, intercepting the arrows with small icicles. "I'm incapable of explaining how pissed off I am right now. So what I'm going to do is kick your ass, kick that bitch's ass, kick blondie's ass, then force Nina to help me kill Boss."

"Not even confident enough to fight your own boss?" Yukari taunts.

Yuki dodges a few swipes from Inugami's wolf form before batting her away with an ice hammer.

"You clearly haven't seen Boss in action, and I'm almost sorry for you," Yuki says. "I'll make sure to create a really pretty ice casket for your white-haired friend. That is, assuming that Boss left enough of her to need one."

Inugami barks at Yuki, forgetting that wolves can't speak human. She charges Yuki and narrowly dodges another blow from the Yuki's hammer, biting down on Yuki's arm. Yuki yells in pain and creates a small dagger of ice to jab into Inugami's ribs. Inugami yelps in pain and lets go of Yuki. Yuki attempts to get another blow in with the ice dagger, but she instead jumps backwards to avoid Yukari's barrage of arrows.

"Sheesh, this whole situation is such a pain in my non-existent dick!" Yuki says.

"Don't be so vulgar!" Yukari says.

"Oh, sorry my goddamn language isn't the cleanest, that's clearly our biggest problem right now!" Yuki exclaims. "Now just stand still, stop struggling and let me kick your ass already!"

***Scene Break***

"You know this really is a huge waste of time," Deus says as she casually avoids Inko's mace. "You can't beat me, Yuki can't beat Yukari and her wolf friend, Alessa likely can't beat Nina, and no matter how hard I try I just can't beat Air Man."

"Just shut up!" Inko yells as she charges at Deus.

"My, such virility!" Deus says. "Wait, that's not right. Vitriol? That sounds better. What did I do to earn such vitriol?"

"You have to ask?" Inko asks. "Because of your group Scarlet and Yukari's old friend is dead, Miku's dead and who knows how many other people are dead because of you? You can't just casually throw away lives like that!"

"It's odd seeing such emotion from an emotionless species," Deus taunts. "Oh, if you're wondering how I knew that, we had telepaths trail you people around for a while after we first heard about you all. As such, you and your friends don't really have any secrets from us. Except for Alessa. The one telepath we used on her was screaming in horror for hours after the attempt. She must have a weird brain, just like her sister. Oh, we're not supposed to be talking about Rem and Aslessa, we're talking about your hypocritical nature. An incubator talking about morality and throwing away lives. You hardly seem the person to ask about things such as that."

"What do you think saying that will accomplish?" Inko asks. "Are you trying to drive me to despair with the thoughts of all the magical girls I've contracted? Even if we were to ignore the fact that they're contracting to help extend the life of the entire universe, many girls live much happier lives as magical girls then they had before. Many meet unfortunate ends, I won't deny that. Still, their actual life is much better then their life before the contract. If you're trying to defeat me with words, you'll have to try a different approach."

"Honestly that wasn't my intention, though it would have been nice," Deus admits. "If it had worked, then this farce could end as soon as possible. I can't say I'm surprised that a fight is the only way this ends, but I am a little disappointed. Well, if we're being honest, the only way it ends isn't with a fight, it's with you dead on the ground."

"Pride comes before the fall," Inko tells her.

"Oh that's right, you're a magical girl now so you don't know anything my wish or abilities," Deus says. "That's okay, if I was in your position I'd also doubt the pride of my opponent. How about we play a game? I'm going to do a few things, and I want you to try and guess what my magical girl ability is, okay?"

A bright golden light shines around Deus as she transforms into her magical girl outfit. She was wearing a black and white dress with gold armor platings on the chest and hips, along with gold boots. Floating near her hips were what looked like two large golden swords. They didn't seem very sharp, most likely for decoration rather than actual attacking. Deus points at Inko and a stream of fire shoots out. Inko rolls to the side to dodge the fire.

"Pyromancy?" Inko thinks to herself. "Annoying, but nothing too difficult to deal with."

Inko charges towards Deus and swings her mace. Deus doesn't so much as flinch when the mace collides with her head. Deus touches her index finger to Inko's head.

"Bang," Deus says.

Inko gets knocked backwards by some extraordinary force. Deus casually strolls over to Inko before she can get up.

"I suppose that one's a little harder to guess," Deus admits. "It's not nearly visual enough to properly guess. I know! Here's an easier one to make up for it."

She waves her hand and sparks fly from her fingers. With a snap of her fingers, a lightning bolt descends from the sky and electrocutes Inko.

"Much easier, right?" Deus asks with a smile.

"Wh… What was that?" Inko asks pulling herself to her knees. "You used pyromancy earlier, and now electricity? Magical girls can't have more then one magical ability. They can use that ability in more then one way, but never more then one ability."

"While that is true, I'm sure someone can make some kind of argument about a possible link between electricity and heat, but I don't know. I dropped out of school pretty early into my career," Deus says with a shrug. "The gravity thing I did when I poked you, however, is a lot harder to link to those."

"Three different abilities?" Inko asks.

"More like… I'll be honest, I don't know how many abilities I actually have," Deus says, a hand to her chin as she starts thinking. "Let's see I've got healing, fire, electricity, ice, super strength, super speed, no teleportation though I have been looking for that, gravity, I recently picked up magnetism from that one girl that got it in her head that I'm an easy kill-"

"How did you get all those abilities?" Inko interrupts.

"It's simple," Deus says, beginning her explanation. "My magical girl ability is to steal other magical girl's abilities. I just absorb their soul gem like I'm using a grief seed, and their powers are mine. Of course they die right after since I'm essentially eating their soul. Oh don't worry, I won't be absorbing your soul gem. I don't like the idea of having an incubator soul running around inside my soul gem, and you don't even appear to have any useful magical abilities. Alessa's pretty similar to you in that regard. It doesn't look like she has any good magical girl abilities. That and I'm not keen on the idea of killing my best friend's little sister. The thought just leaves a bad taste in my mouth."

Inko tries getting to her feet, but Deus kicks her in the stomach and she falls back down.

"I should clarify something. I'm not going to be absorbing your soul gem, but that doesn't mean I plan on letting you live," Deus says. "That would just be foolish of me."

"And what if I win this battle?" Inko asks, pulling herself up once again.

"I'd say it's extraordinarily unlikely," Deus replies.

"Unlikely, but not impossible," Inko says.

"Not impossible, no," Deus admits. "Care to give it a shot?"

***Scene Break***

"You are very annoying," I tell Nina. I swing at her with my spear, but only manage to scratch her cheek before she disappears and reappears right behind me. I just barely manage to bring my spear up and deflect the knives she throws at me. Nina appears right in front of me and attempts to stab me in the neck with a knife. I grab her wrist to stop her swing, and lean back to avoid the knife she's pulled from her other sleeve. I slam my forehead into hers to stagger her and then I pick her up by the neck and slam her into the ground. The second she hits the ground she disappears. I roll to the side and just barely dodge the projectile knives flying through the air.

"How many knives do you even have?" I ask as Nina pops into my field of view. "It can't be easy to store them all."

"It isn't," Nina admits. The cut on her cheek is bleeding very slightly. The blood drips down her cheek slowly, then suddenly speeds up as the cut quickly stitches itself up. The blood drop sped up? Hmmm. "As an answer to your first question, allow me to show you."

Nina disappears again and the air is filled with hundreds and hundreds of knives that all start flying towards me. Without hesitation I hold my spear out in front of me and start spinning it as fast as I can, using it as a makeshift shield against the hail of knives. Thank you Yoko, for helping me figure out how to deal with projectiles. Of course, since there's far more knives then their were meteorites back then, a few manage to sneak through. Blades sink into my left shoulder, my right thigh, and my stomach. I keep spinning my spear, since stopping that action would likely get me killed. Unfortunately for me, one more knife gets through and stabs right into my forehead. That injury stunned me and made me stop my defense, which let the rest of the knives hit their target. Blade after blade stabbed into every bit of flesh it could find. After about 15 seconds of being repeatedly stabbed by high velocity projectiles, the storm stopped and I was still standing.

"I'm almost shocked," Nina says. "Though I'm not sure if I'm shocked that you were able to take all of those hits right on the chin, or if I'm shocked that even with all those knives buried in you I still missed your soul gem."

"That happens when you don't know where you need to aim," I tell her as I pull a knife out of my head.

"Where is your soul gem anyway?" Nina asks. "Most soul gems are easily spotted. You dog friend's soul gem is on her stomach, your incubator friend's is on her chest, mine is on my shoulder, as you can see. Where is your's located?"

"The second I tell you I get a knife in that area," I tell her as I continue pulling knives out of my body.

"True enough," Nina consents. "I'll be finding it soon enough, anyway."

"Is that so? I don't think you will," I tell her. "After all, I already figured out your magic ability, and just how to counter it."

"Oh? Do tell," Nina prods me for me information.

"Let me put it this way." I take my spear and stab it into the ground. I work the spear a bit to make the hold slightly larger. I take a step back so there's some space between me and the newly created hole. "I'm willing to bet my soul gem that you won't be able to get over this hole. Though that deal only stands if you're willing to not cheat the system and use your magic to get behind me."

"I'm intrigued," Nina says. "If you really have figured out my ability, then you should know that this is a pointless endeavor. I don't see the point in making a bet you know you'll lose."

I remain silent and dare her to make the first move. Nina smirks and disappears, reappearing right between me and the hole.

"Game over," she says, still smirking. I respond by giving her a light tap on the chest. The unexpected force (wasn't really that strong of a push though) makes her take a step back. She readies a knife and gets ready to attack me, but is stopped suddenly. She looks down and sees that her foot is caught in the small hold I dug with my spear. She attempts to remove her foot from the hole, but it's stuck tight. I allow myself a small smile at her confusion.

"See, I figured out your ability was accelerating things," I tell her. "You make yourself go so fast that your opponent can't see what you're doing, like when you created that knife storm. You can also make someone's body move faster so that their wounds heal quicker, which is why your boss called you a healer. Of course you can be the fastest thing in the universe, and that doesn't mean anything if you're stuck in one place."

"Don't be an idiot," Nina says. "I can't lose to something that stupid."

She tries again and again to dislodge her foot, but it's just no use. Her foot was caught in that hole, and it wasn't getting dislodged anytime soon. I calmly walk up to her. She swings her knife at me in frustration, and I grab the knife, tear it free of her grasp and stab it into her neck.

"Is that so? Well do me a favor and go to sleep for a bit," I tell her. I grab her hair and bring my knee to her face. There's a loud crack, and when I let go of her she flops over, unconscious. She's out cold, but she'll be back up eventually.

"Okay, now to go help Inko," I say to myself.

"That won't be necessary."

I turn and see Deus approaching me, dragging what looks like…

"Inko!" I exclaim.

"She's already dead," Deus tells me. She shows me what she was holding in her free hand. Nothing but a few shards of glass and metal. Inko's soul gem. "Credit where credit is due, I never thought she'd be as much of a pain as she was. I actually though I was going to die a few times there."

"You monster!" I yell as I charge at Deus and swing my spear at her neck. She casually raises her own spear and blocks my strike.

"Before you do anything you'll regret, I feel like I should warn you about something," Deus says. "Before the fighting started, Nina was worried that something like this would happen and went ahead and called in her unit as backup. Four other magical girls should be arriving any second now, and they were instructed to take care of the disobedient snow flake and any other issues. Any thoughts about who else is near the snowflake that my subordinates wouldn't be adverse to fighting?"

"AH! Ui! Yukari!"

"So, stay here and try to avenge your friend, or go help the still alive ones?" Deus asks, a smug smile on her face.

"… Damn it!" I curse. I turn around and start moving as fast as I can to get to Ui and Yukari in time.

***Scene Break***

"You two are complete pains!" Yuki yells. The ice magical girl was not in a good position. Yukari had scored a few lucky hits to her shoulder and gut, and Inugami had managed more than her fair share of deep gashes to various parts of Yuki. If the fight continued in this fashion, Yuki would certainly lose and that made her furious.

Inugami leaps towards Yuki and scratches her leg. Yuki cries out in pain and readies an ice sword to swing at the wolf, but is force to instead block Yukari's incoming arrows. Yuki readies some icicles to launch at Yukari but is interrupted by Inugami smashing against her.

"You can't win," Yukari says. "Just give up now."

"Screw that!" Yuki says. "I haven't even gotten serious yet."

"What, waiting to unleash your final form?" Inugami asks, having transformed back into her human form.

"I got like three transformations left!" Yuki boasts with a cocky grin. "Fortunately for you, you won't get to see me get serious."

"What's that mean?" Yukari asks.

Before anyone can respond, a blade cuts through the air and slashes Yukari's throat. Yukari falls to her knees and hands go to her throat to try and stop the blood flow. Inugami reacts quickly and begins turning into a wolf to fight back. Before she can finish the transformation, two dolls, one armed with a hammer and the other with a flail, smash their weapons into her hind legs. Inugami yelps in pain and falls onto the floor.

The ambush was staged by two magical girls. The one who had attacked Yukari was wielding a katana. She had short, silver hair and green eyes that were complimented by her green dress. She wore two black ribbons, one on her chest and one in her hair. The one who controlled the dolls had shoulder length blonde hair held back by a red ribbon. She wore a blue dress with a white shawl draped over her shoulders, and a red ribbon tied around her waist. The dolls that had attacked Inugami were attached to strings that led back to the the dollmaster.

"'Bout damn time!" Yuki says. "Shit man, why are reinforcements always so late?"

"You're not in a position to complain, are you?" The blade wielding magical girl asks.

"The icy fucker just can't learn to accept help from her betters," the puppetmaster replies with a gentle smile.

"Shut up Alice," Yuki says. "But this is it, just you and Yami?"

"Momiji and Sanae got hung up," Yami replies. "Some Pink Twintailed magical girl got suspicious of us. Those two stayed behind to keep her busy while me and Alice came to do our jobs."

"How many magical girls are even in this city?" Alice wonders out loud. "It's just a shithole of a town, hardly worth any of the effort these poor fucks put into protecting it."

"Hey, watch the language, we're professionals here," Yuki says.

"And as professionals, we have a job to finish," Yami says, readying her katana.

"Leave Yukari alive," Yuki says. "I want to deal with her personally."

"Go right ahead! Because after that we get to kill you, Yuki!" Alice says cheerfully, making her dolls dance around in joy.

Yukari finishes healing her throat wound and fires three arrows, one at each of her enemies. Yuki freezes the arrow in midair, Alice has one of her dolls take the shot for her, and Yami slices the arrows in half.

"Ah, the runaway whor-"

"Alice!" Yami yells. "Language."

"Aww, fine. The runaway bitch still has some fight in her," Alice corrects.

"I am done," Yukari says. "I am sick and tired of having to deal with all of you idiots! Just leave my friends alone already!"

"Geez, where was this backbone when you worked with us?" Yuki asks. "I like it. It would have been way more useful then you whining and a- AHH!"

Yuki's monologue was interrupted by Inugami biting down on Yuki's arm as hard as she could. Yami swings her katana at Inugami who let's go of Yuki's arm and jumps to Yukari's side. Yukari readies another set of arrows and Inugami growls at her enemies.

"Two vs three, what beautiful odds," Yuki says with a smile.

"Fights with the odds tipped in one side's favor so obviously are kind of boring," Yami says.

"Yeah! If you're not going to give me a good show when I rips out your fucking guts, then you're just a useless shithead!" Alice says cheerfully.

"You three continue to be boring," A new voice says.

Two new magical girls arrived on the battlefield. One had long, light silver hair with what looked like wolf ears as well. She was wearing a white tunic and long red skirt, and wielding a sword that was three times as large as her in one hand and a shield with a red leaf on it in her other hand. The second magical girl had long green hair and was wearing what looked like a stylized shrine maiden outfit that was colored white and blue. She was armed with what appeared to simply be a stick with a ribbon tied to the end.

"Momiji, Sanae!" Yami says. "What happened to the Pink Twintails?"

"She was very good," the green haired girl, Sanae, said. "We didn't think we were going to win, so we instead decided to retreat and regroup with you two so we could complete our mission."

"Dying isn't on my to-do list today," the sword and shield user, Momiji, added.

"Fucking cowards," Alice says with a smile.

"Hey, she was super, super tough!" Momiji says. "She would have even given Yami a hard time, I guarantee it!"

"Well, now it's five on two," Yuki says, stopping the argument. "How about this: you four take out the dog, I get Yukari."

"Rather confident, aren't you?" Momiji asks.

"I'd be willing to help if you wanted me too," Sanae offers.

"Ah, no problem," Yuki says. She briefly waves her hand and ice emerges from the ground beneath Yukari's feet and covers her up to her neck. She struggles and tries to escape, but the ice doesn't break. "I want to deal with her personally, and I'd rather appreciate being able to do things at my pace."

"Let me go you bastards!" Yukari yells.

Momiji wastes no more time talking and runs at Inugami. Inugami is caught off guard by the sudden action and is unable to dodge Momiji's shield strike. The shield crashes against Inugami's skull and before she can try anything else, Alice appears right next to her. She manipulates the strings and has the first doll swing it's hammer into Inugami's side, and the second doll swings it's mace into her head. Inugami bites one of the dolls and tears the doll to pieces. She slashes the other doll to pieces and prepares to attack the now defenseless Alice. Inugami leaps at Alice, but is intercepted by Yami slashing at her with her sword. Inugami's stomach is lightly cut, and she's thrown off course. She gets ready to attack another enemy, but Sanae appears right in front of her.

"I'm sorry," Sanae apologizes before she stabs her stick into Inugami's eye. Inugami yells in pain but is cut short by Sanae bringing her stick down on Inugami's head as hard as she could. Inugami's vision goes blurry as she falls to the ground. Her concentration breaks and she turns back into her human form, beaten and bloodied. Yuki looks at her "opponent" and walks over. She starts poking Inugami in the side, making sure she's still alive.

"Shit guys, I almost feel like you went a little too overboard," Yuki says. "Well, there's a high chance that she would have been dead at the end of the night anyway, so I suppose it doesn't matter how badly you beat her.

Yuki rolls Inugami over onto her back and looks at her. Yuki kneels down and takes Inugami's soul gem from it's place. She examines the soul gem in some detail.

"Well, any last words?" Yuki asks Inugami. "Might as well be nice about this."

Inugami barely manages to mumble a few words. Yuki accepts this and crushes Inugami's soul gem in her hand.

"Inugami!" Yukari calls out. "Damn it, Yuki!"

"Hey, those four are the ones who gave me the opportunity to kill her, blame them," Yuki says. "It doesn't matter, she's probably not going to be alone for very long."

"UI!"

"AARGH! Dammit Blondie, way to show up a little too late," Yuki says, turning towards the latest arrival.

***Scene Break***

"UI!" I called out as soon as I got to the battlefield. I saw Yukari almost completely encased in ice, four magical girls I didn't recognize, and Yuki standing over Ui's body. Ui wasn't breathing, and Yuki was holding what looked like some glass shards.

"AARGH, Dammit Blondie, way to show up a little too late," Yuki said when she saw me. "Couldn't have arrived at least a little earlier? We might have gotten something interesting to happen before I killed the dog."

"You killed… You…"

"Yeah, the wolf is dead now," Yuki tells me. "Care to give your final respects to the dead before you get offed as well?"

"You're being awfully nice today," the green haired magical girl observes.

"Shut up," Yuki says in response.

The other magical girls start bantering with each other, and I walk over to Ui's body. I put a hand on her shoulder and start trying to shake her awake.

"Ui?" I ask. "Ui, please wake up. You're not really dead are you? You can't be."

"Scarlet, you have to get out of here!" Yukari yells at me. "Forget about me, just go grab Inko and get out of here!"

"Ui, please wake up," I plead. "Please. I don't want to lose anyone else. Please, you can't be dead. You can't be."

"Sheesh, talk about overdramatic!" Yuki exclaims. "Blondie, she's dead! Hurry up, say some last words and get ready to leave!"

Dead. Ui's dead. Just like Remi. Just like Yoko, and Miku and Inko. Ui's dead, and Yuki killed her. She killed her, she killed her, she killed her, she killed her. Killedherkilledherkilledherkilledherkillherkillherkillherkillherkillherkillherkillherkillherkillherkillherkillherkillherkillherkillherkillherkillherkillherkillherkillherkillherkillherkillherkillherkillkillkillkillkillkillkillkillkillkillkillkillkill.

"Miss Yami," the green haired one says. "Would you mind taking care of her before she becomes a problem?"

"It would make things easier," the white haired one says.

"And more boring," the blonde one says.

Yami nods and walks over to me. She readies her katana, aiming it at my neck. She gets ready to swing her sword. I don't give her the chance. My hand wraps itself around her neck. I get a firm grip and then tear her throat out. She drops her sword, and falls to the ground. The other magical girls ready their weapons, but Yuki just smiles calmly and motions for them to stand down.

"Calm down everyone, she's just upset because we killed her girlfriend," Yuki says. "I'll calm her down, don't worry."

"If things go south, we won't step in," the sword and shield user says.

"Our job is to make sure you're dead! Don't forget that," the blonde one adds.

"Bastards the lot of you," Yuki mutters. She readies a sword out of ice and dares me to attack her first. I rush at her and she swings her sword. I raise my arm slightly and the sword hits my wrist and shatters completely. Yuki seems briefly shocked, but gets ready to attack again. She creates an ice hammer and swings it at my head. I swing my hand and once it comes in contact with the hammer, the ice weapon shatters.

Yuki is startled by that, and jumps back to put some distance between me and her and readies a series of ice projectiles. I start walking towards her, and she starts firing her icicles at me. The projectiles pass clean through me, so I continue walking towards her.

"Just stay down for a minute!" Yuki yells at me as she increases the rate at which she was firing her projectiles. Compared to Nina's blade storm, this icicle barrage is nothing. Once I get close enough I lunge at Yuki and grab her by the neck. She kicks me in the stomach, then creates two ice daggers and shoves them into my neck. I tighten my grip on her neck and start choking her.

"What the hell?" Yuki chokes out. "Did you just tear out your own nervous system or something?"

Ice starts gathering around Yuki's arm and she raises it up, preparing another attack. Before the ice attack can be launched, I grab onto her arm and pull, separating her limb from her body. Yuki screams in pain, then grits her teeth. Ice gathers around where her arm used to be, and forming a replacement limb made of ice. The ice arm changes shape and becomes a sharp blade which she uses to cut through my wrist and finally get me to let her go. She lands on the floor and starts rubbing her neck to ease the soreness. I step in and punch her in the face, breaking her nose.

"W-what the hell? Didn't I just cut that hand off?" Yuki asks. She doesn't let the question bug her and readies her ice limb for another attack. She swings her ice limb at me, and I lean back to avoid the blade. I grab her by the upper arm and squeeze, shattering the ice. Before Yuki can ready another attack, I grab onto her. One hand goes on her shoulder, and the other on her head. I tilt her head to the side and bite into her neck. She starts screaming, but I don't let it deter me and continue feasting. Once I've had my fill, I let go of her and push her to the ground. I stomp down on her thigh, shattering her femur so she won't be able to stand up again. Yuki cries out in pain. She's looking up at me with tears in her eyes. I stomp down on her face, then I stomp down again, and again.

"I'm sorry!" Yuki yells at me. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry, Scarlet! Just stop already, please!"

I ignore her pleas and just keep stomping down on her head. After less then a minute of stomping, there's nothing left of her head save for a pool of blood and her soul gem. With one last stomp, her soul gem is completely crushed. I look back at the other magical girls, and their reactions vary. Yukari is horrified, the green haired girl looks ready to vomit, the sword and shield user seems unnerved and the blonde looks interested.

"Who's next?" I ask them, ready to kill every single one of them.

"Alessa, that's enough," Deus says, walking onto the battlefield.

I make my decision and charge at Deus. I start to swing at her, trying everything I can to kill her.

"Alessa, just stop already!" Deus yells at me as she keeps dodging my attacks. "You've done enough tonight, no matter what you do now you can't bring your friends back."

"Just shut up!" I yell at her. I swing and get a lucky blow, scratching her cheek. Deus sighs in resignation and grabs my wrists. She breaks them both, then puts a hand to my head. My body suddenly becomes much heavier, and I'm forced to the ground. I try to get back up and kill her, but some force is keeping me pinned to the ground.

"We're done here," Deus says. "Sanae, pick Yami off the ground. Momiji, pick up Yuki's corpse. We're heading back to base."

"What about Nina?" The green haired one asks. "What about Yukari?"

"I don't really have much use for a subordinate who loses as easily as that," Deus says. "She lost, so we have no more use for her. As for these two here, just leave them be. They've dealt with enough tonight."

"Aww, I wanted to have some fun with the devil girl," the blonde one says.

"Hurry up already!" Deus says. "We've been burning the midnight oil as is, let's head back."

"Yes sir!" The magical girls declare. The green haired girl picks up the girl whose throat I tore out, the sword and shield user picks up Yuki's corpse and they all leave. The force that was keeping me pinned to the ground disappears and I pull myself into a sitting position. The ice encasing Yukari disappeared once I had killed Yuki, so she's just sitting on the ground, barely managing to stay up.

"Damn it," I say. I hit the ground as hard as I can, and the ground forms a small crater where I hit it. "DAMN IT!"

"Scarlet..." Yukari trails off, not sure what to actually say. Eventually she settles for a question. "What do we do now?"

"I don't know," I tell her. "I don't know anymore. I just want to go home. I want to go home."

"That's okay," Yukari says. "I understand. Come on. Let's get you home. We can talk about what we'll do tomorrow."

I slowly nod in agreement. Yukari helps me to my feet and walks me home. Once I'm back in my room I fall down on my bed. I didn't get any sleep that night.


	10. Chapter 10: What do you want?

**Author Notes:**

I had fun with this chapter. I really did. I only have a few things I want to talk about here. Firstly, the pink haired girl that's been mentioned a few times. If you're expecting her to be some Deus Ex Machina like "Oh no, Scarlet/Yukari/Whoever is going to get smash by that mean ol' magical girl! Oh thank you mysterious pink haired stranger for saving her from certain death!" That's not happening. … Beyond what happened here, sort of. She doesn't really play much into this plot. Why keep mentioning her if that's the case? Because I like how it makes it feel like the world does not revolve around Scarlet and her friends. They're the main characters of course, but there are more people in the world than them, and they're just as capable of helping. Basically, the story could have been told entirely from her point of view, but these events here would still be happening. I dunno, it's kind of hard to explain. To me, having other people running around in the background that don't necessarily interact with the core cast makes a world feel a bit more alive, but maybe that's just me.

Second, Sakuya killing Scarlet's mom and barely reacting. It's easy to think that that's solely for shock value, but it kind of wasn't. I'm probably overthinking what I write, but that event was to show that for all Sakuya preaches about trying to help people and magical girls, she's become so detached from basic morality and become so desensitized to violence that killing her best friend's mother doesn't even register for her. For all Sakuya tries to convince herself that she's helping people and being the hero here, she's not, and things like that keep reminding her. Considering this is just a crappy story you don't need to read into the event as much as I am, but it's food for thought. Secondly and a half: Since we're on the topic of Sakuya, it's time for Guess That Reference! What Touhou character is Sakuya's magical girl outfit based on? If you guessed any Touhou character at all, you lost! It was a trick question. Sakuya's outfit is based on the character Izayoi, from Blazblue. Sakuya's last name was always Izayoi, and her outfit was always supposed to resemble Blazblue's Izayoi. Then the Touhou references came en masse and she got the name Sakuya Izayoi. It worked too well.

Thirdly, Yukari taking in Nina. Sort of a throwaway line but yeah, Yukari's taking care of Nina now. There's not really any bad blood between the two, so I didn't see why Yukari wouldn't take the first chance she had to heal Nina. They're somewhat similar too. They've gone through some of the same stuff. There was some stuff about Yukari and Nina's backstories in this chapter that got cut out because it didn't fit in. For those curious, Yukari's family was in a car accident, and she got a pretty nasty spine injury paralyzing her from the waist down. She wished to be back in perfect health (hence healing abilities), but due to some inexperience in the magical girl business, she accidentally used a grief seed too much and it hatched into a witch which killed her parents. She just kept getting ground down by witches afterwards until Deus's group found and recruited her. Nina was a shy girl who was bullied at her school. One "joke" went a little too far when they pushed her down a flight of stairs. One awful injury later, she was paralyzed from the neck down. Deus met her in the hospital and convinced her to contract, and Nina wished to get out of the hospital as soon as possible (Hence acceleration powers). Nina was going to use her new powers to get a little revenge, but one of those bullies apologized and seemed so goddamn pathetic and apologetic that Nina forgave her. They're now best friends. Sometimes people can get a happy ending.

Fourthly, Scarlet remembered her magical girl power. What is it? I probably made it a bit too obvious, but a few hints have been sprinkled throughout the story. Correct guess wins an internet cookie or something. Anyway, we had two chapters today, we'll have two chapters next week. Next week is the grand finale everybody, get excited! This is the Uncreative, see you next time.

**Chapter 10: "What do you want?"**

I'd say I woke up that morning feeling awful, but that would mean I actually got to sleep at some point that night. I feel awful. Why shouldn't I? Inko and Ui are dead now. Yukari's my only friend who's still alive, Deus is probably still going to come after us, and it's no one's fault but our own. We're such idiots, getting in over out head like that.

I tried to shake off the awful feeling, hopped out of my bed and headed downstairs. I went into the living room, sat down on a chair, buried my face in my hands and just sat there. I don't know what to do at the moment. Deus is probably holed up in her house or workspace or something and those other magical girls are probably around as her bodyguards. Me and Yukari can't take them on our own. How are we supposed to get to Deus? Should we even try to fight Deus anymore? Is it even worth doing anything anymore? I don't know. We can't just rush in there, we'd be murdered. What am I supposed to do?

"Sweet Pea?" My mom asks as she walks into the living room. "You're up early. Is something the matter?"

"I miss Remi," I tell her.

"Oh," she says as she takes a seat next to me. "You finally remembered your sister?"

"No," I admit. "I met a friend of hers who told me about her. A lot of stuff is happening right now and I don't know what to to, and I want her back so she can fix everything. I don't know what to do anymore."

"Sweet Pea, what's going on?" my mother asks. "Does this have anything to do with... Um... With your friend being killed?"

Which one?

"No… Yes… Maybe, I don't know," I tell her. "My head is just a confused mess and the few things I've tried recently have just made things worse. Serves me right, we were just a bunch of idiots rushing in. Everything keeps getting worse and worse and I don't know what to do anymore."

"Alessa, what's happening?" my mom asks me. "You keep making it sound like you're involved in something incredibly dangerous. What has been going on with you lately?"

"Do you really want to know?" I ask her. "I'll answer for you, you don't. All you'd hear about is things that will make you worry even more and you wouldn't be able to do anything about it. It's just… It's just one huge mess that just keeps getting worse."

"Hey, don't worry," my mom says, pulling me into a hug. "It'll all be okay."

"You keep saying that, but how can you know that?" I ask her. "I want to know, how is it all going to be okay?"

"I don't know," mother admits with a sad smile. "But I'm sure you'll figure it out. You've always been a bit like your sister. You're very bad at just letting things be. I have nothing but the utmost confidence that you'll find out how to solve this problem."

"You don't even know what the problem is," I tell her. "It's not anything with such a simple solution."

"You're clever," mother tells me. "I know you'll figure this problem out. I'm sorry I can't do anymore then say that, but it's all I can do at the moment when you won't even tell me what the problem is."

"Even if you knew, that's probably all you would be able to do anyway," I tell her. "Don't worry though, I'm still really thankful for the words of encouragement."

"Anytime," mother says as she gives me a pat on the head. "Breakfast'll be ready soon. Your father is still asleep, but I'll bring you some breakfast, wake him up and we can all have a good meal together. Sound good?"

"That sounds nice," I say. "Thank you mom."

"Not a problem, Sweat Pea," my mother says as she gets up and heads to the kitchen to cook some food.

Hmmm. My favorite food is… I want to say pancakes. That's the first food that comes to mind, so it must have had the biggest impact on me before I turned into a witch. Before I can think about it anymore, there's a knock on the door. … Yukari, maybe? She did say she was going to come over soon. I hear what I assume to be my mother head over to the door and open it up. My mother and the guest share a few words and I hear my mother walk back to the living room.

"Sweat Pea, one of your friends is here to visit," my mother says.

On that mark, Deus walk into the living room and gives me a weak smile.

"Hello, Alessa," she says. "How are you today?"

I don't respond.

"She's not feeling too well today," my mother tells Deus. "Would you mind keeping her company while I work on making breakfast?"

"No problem at all," Deus says with a smile.

"Thank you," my mother says before heading back into the kitchen.

Deus walks over and takes a seat right across from me. As soon as she sits down I grab hold of her neck and tighten my grip, coming just short of strangling her.

"Give me one reason I shouldn't snap your neck right now," I tell her.

"Firstly, it would be ineffective," Deus says, not phased by my hand on her throat. "After all, magical girls can take quite a bit of punishment, as I'm sure you're aware. Secondly, there's no need for violence. I'm just here to talk."

"And why should I believe a word you say?" I ask. "I hope you remember what events transpired after your last visit."

"Alessa, look," Deus begins. "This isn't a confrontation of any kind. This isn't a negotiation, a suggestion, a deal, an entreaty, an agreement, some compromise, a capitulation or anything of the sort."

"Is that so? Then what is it?" I ask her.

"I already told you," Deus says. "I just want to talk."

I grimace, and after a few seconds I sigh. I let go of her neck and allow her to lead the conversation. Deus looks around somewhat shyly as I glower at her.

"So… What happened to Nina?" Deus asks. "I'm a little curious, since you and Yukari don't seem like the type to kill her off."

"Yukari took her in," I tell her. "Figured she could heal Nina up and we could get some information from her or something. She's letting Nina use the spare bed she has, so I guess you could say they're roommates at the moment."

"That's nice, that's nice. Um… When you transform into a magical girl, what's up with your wings?" Deus asks nervously. "Do they have nerves, so if they get hit or broken you'd feel pain, or are they just decoration?"

I remain silent.

"… So… Listen to much music?" Deus fishes around for another topic. "I usually don't, but Nina's a huge fan of Kid Rock and is trying to get me hooked on that and-"

"What do you want?" I ask her. "What are you even trying to accomplish here?"

"Sorry. I'm just not sure how to start this conversation," Deus admits. "It should be simple but… It's kind of hard, talking to you. I've got no idea what's going on in your head, and you're Rem's little sister and I never really knew you that well, and your friends are dead because of my friends and… I really don't know what to say right now. I mean, I know what to say, but I don't… Haaaaaaah. I guess I just wanted to tell you a bit about myself."

"Is that so?" I ask, not very interested in her life story.

"Just so you can understand where I'm coming from, you know?" Deus asks. "I suppose I should start with the big one. This… whole thing. Starting my organization, recruiting magical girls, hell, even the alias I'm using. You want to know where they came from? You can thank your sister for that."

"Remi?" I ask. "Why bother bringing her up?"

"Because all of this really is kind of her fault," Deus says with a sad smile. "Wait, put that out of your mind for a bit, I'm getting a bit ahead of myself here. Do you want to know why I contracted and became a magical girl? I lived in Mitakihara a year ago, which is how I met you and Rem. Of course, being in that city at that time wasn't a good idea, for one single reason."

"Walpurgisnacht," I say.

"Correct," Deus confirms. "I helped your sister dig you out of the concrete, and had a front row seat to seeing her bring you back. I left you two alone at that moment, because I didn't really understand what was going on. An incubator tried to get me to contract, and I used that chance to get all the information I could out of him. That was how I learned the intricacies of the system, including the secrets of the soul gem, and how magical girls were just witches in training. I was furious. I was furious at the incubators, at the witches, at Rem for allowing this to happen to her, but mostly I was just upset at the system. I decided that I wanted to fight it, so you know what I wished for?"

I remain silent and allow her to continue.

"I wished for the power to kill every magical girl I ever met," Deus tells me. "I figured that if I killed every magical girl before they became a witch, the witches would eventually just die out and there'd no longer be any reason for girls to contract and nobody else would have to suffer the fate that every magical girl eventually reaches. I wasn't going to kill Rem though, don't worry. She was my best friend! I would never do anything like that to her. I knew she wouldn't like what I was doing, so I never told her. Of course she eventually found out, despite my best efforts. How would you think she'd react? Do you think she'd be angry? Furious that I was as horrible a murderer as I was? Perhaps she felt betrayed, considering her best friend had been committing horrible crimes behind her back? No. None of that. She told me she was disappointed. Here I was, with all the power anyone could ever ask for and I was using it for something as petty as murder. If I was really as strong as I was, why didn't I use that power for something more productive, like actually working to keep people alive?"

"Hence your group," I say.

"That's exactly right," she confirms, with a nostalgic smile. "She's the one who suggested I start building a group of magical girls and work to keep them alive. I helped magical girls who needed it, and they wouldn't turn into witches, so I'm still accomplishing what I originally wanted. I wanted Rem to be the head of the group since she was good at the kind of stuff. She was always fantastic at getting people to follow her. She was just a naturally charismatic person, I suppose. I wanted to be just the muscle who lends the occasional hand and enforces the rules. She declined the offer. If she had to watch over that many magical girls then she'd have even less time to spend with you than she already did, and she wasn't willing to deal with that. I eventually met Yuki and Nina, and my organization had finally started. I really do owe everything I have to your sister. Like I said, even the name came from her. She said that if I was going to be running some huge group I needed a name that sounded more intimidating than Sakuya. Apparently Deus means 'god' in some dead language, and she thought that sounded really amazing."

"So what went wrong?" I ask her. "What made a well meaning group become the gang of psychopaths and murderers it is today?"

"We're just too large of a group now," Deus says. "We have people all over Japan, and have slowly started spreading into China and Russia. No matter how strong I am, I can't be everywhere at once. I can't be in Hokkaido to stop one magical girl who is abusing her ability to kill the people that bullied her before she contracted. I can't be in Kyushu where a magical girl is being mocked and beaten by her equals just because they don't personally like her. I can't be in Tokyo or Kyoto to help manage things there and keep certain bosses from abusing their powers, or making power plays against each other. Despite the name I use, I'm not God. I'm not. No matter how much I may want everyone to survive and be good people, I can't be everywhere to make sure that's happening. I have all these rules that subordinates are supposed to follow, but I have no way of making sure they follow them. Corruption spreads far too fast, over far too much of an area for me to do anything about it."

"Not to mention that you hardly qualify as a good person," I tell her.

"My hands are stained with the blood of many," Deus admits. "More then I would care to admit. I'm not a good person, but that doesn't mean that those who follow me can't be better than I ever was. That's all I want. I don't deserve such an outcome, but it's what I'm trying to do. And even with all the corruption and psychopaths running around in my group, we're still doing far more good then bad."

"Is that so? Forgive me if I fail to see how that works."

"I'll give you two examples, one positive and one a little negative," Deus says. "You know both of them, so this should be easy. We'll start with the negative one. First is Alice. You saw her last night. Blonde hair, blue dress, fights with dolls and is completely insane?"

"I recall someone with that description," I reply.

"Like I just told you, she's not exactly the most sane individual," Deus starts. "She constantly talks to her dolls like they were real humans, because more often then not, they are. She wished to be able to turn anyone she wanted into the most perfect doll imaginable, so she takes people she wants to make a doll of and uses far more of them than she needs to, killing them in the process. She's a complete psycho who's violently insane. Now, if my organization didn't exist, where would dear Alice be?"

"Running around free on the streets, killing whoever she felt like killing and turning them into dolls?" I guess.

"Most likely," Deus confirms. "Since she's in my group, we can keep an eye on her and keep what could most likely be hundreds of innocents people from losing their lives. Now for the more positive example. Yami, also present last night. White hair, sword, I believe you tore her throat out?"

"I remember that, yes," I tell her.

"You know what her ability is? She wished to be able to clean other people's soul gems," Deus explains. "Amazing, isn't it? Completely negates the need for grief seeds, doesn't it? She'd obviously be a huge boon to any group that had her as a member! Except that's not why we recruited her. See, she drains the corruption from other people's soul gems, and it goes directly to hers. Now, if we hadn't recruited her and provided her with as many grief seeds as she needed, what do you think would happen to her?"

"She'd turn into a witch from taking in too much corruption," I assume.

"But now she's alive and well cared for," Deus says. "And because we're able to provide her with the grief seeds she so desperately needs, she can continue to clean other magical girl's soul gems and has saved innumerable lives as a result. Alessa, I want you to understand. Yes, my organization is far too corrupt. Yes, far too many people in charge of various prefectures and cities abuse their power and use it for their own petty ends. Every nasty rumor you ever hear about us is most likely true. But in spite of all of that, we still need to exist. Too many people's lives would be lost if we went away. Think of all the magical girls reliant on the grief seeds we give them. What would happen if the system fell apart? I'm sure most would be able to live just fine, but many wouldn't be able to function properly and uncountable numbers of magical girls will die. Chaos would ensue, and all of Japan would be thrown into disarray. I don't want that. I love that I'm able to help people, and I just keep thinking about all the people who would die if we weren't around to keep the witches at bay, or provide support to magical girls who need it. Yes, we need to step on a lot of lives to make it happen, but when compared to the number of people we keep alive… It's not an excuse, I know, but it's the only reason this group is around anymore."

"I'll ask again, what were you hoping to accomplish with this talk?" I ask. "I don't mean that in some sarcastic 'this was a waste of time' way. I'm genuinely curious. What outcome were you hoping for?"

"I just wanted to see if you could maybe see things from my perspective," Sakuya tells me. "From the beginning I knew there were only three possible outcomes. One: You feel sympathy for us and the group as a whole and start working with me and Yukari to make the entire organization better so we don't need to worry about the corruption."

"Neither of us would ever work with you," I tell her. "Not after what you done to both of us."

"I never said they were all likely outcomes," Sakuya admits sadly. "Second: You feel some sympathy for us, but you won't work with us, and we simply reach a truce of sorts. You leave my group alone, my group leaves you and Yukari alone and everyone stays out of everyone else's business."

"And finally?" I ask, prodding for her last possible outcome.

"Finally, the most likely event: you still think of us as completely unforgivable and swear to take us down, no matter what it takes. I'm pretty sure I can already tell which option you've decided on."

"Before I tell you which one, I want to play a game," I tell her.

"A game? Seems like an abrupt switch of topics," Sakuya says.

"Just trust me," I tell her. "Here's how it works. I'm going to say a whole bunch of words, and I want you to tell me what they all have in common."

"A word association game?" Sakuya asks. "Seems simple enough. Very well, begin."

I clear my throat and start rattling off the names.

"Miku Yagami, Inko, Ui Inugami, Yoko Tsukihime-"

"Oh, I already see where this is going," Sakuya says with a sigh.

"Yuki Tsukihime-"

"Excuse me?" Sakuya says, sounding surprised at that particular inclusion.

"Nina, Yukari Yakumo-"

"But those two are still alive," Sakuya protests.

"Remilia, Sakuya Izayoi," I finish. "You have one guess as to what those names all have in common. And no, them all being magical girls is not the correct answer."

"I wouldn't have said that," Sakuya pouts. "Hmmm… I thought I had it with the first four names, then you kept throwing me for a loop. I think you may have gotten me. What do all these names have in common?"

"They're all the names of people whose lives have been ruined thanks to your group," I tell her.

"Excuse me?!" Deus says indignantly. "Do you have any idea what my group has done for some of those people?! Yukari would be dead in an alleyway if not for us! Nina would be trapped in the goddamn hospital paralyzed from the neck down if we hadn't convinced her that the the magical girl contract was worth it! Yoko and Yuki would never have spoken to each other again if we hadn't reunited them! How is this group ruining my life, I run it! I have no problems anymore thanks to the efforts of everyone else. And how is Rem involved in any of this?!"

"Yukari would be dead if it wasn't for me and Yagami saving her from your group, Nina was abandoned by her 'friends' after she was nearly killed just last night, Yuki killed Yoko and was marked for death by the ones who supposedly 'helped' her, all you've done the past month is make enemies that you shouldn't have, and perhaps if you had been there for her, Remi wouldn't have witched out."

"That's bullshit and you know it!" Sakuya yells at me. "I offered her everything! I told Rem that she could be a part of all of this whenever she wanted and she just threw it all away so she could be with you more! Ever think that maybe you might be the reason she witched out?"

"And what was stopping you from doing something as simple as sending her a grief seed?" I ask. "Something as simple as that couldn't have taken any more than a moment."

"You little…" Sakuya takes a deep breath and works on regaining her composure. "And so that's it? For the sake of everyone whose name you rattled off you're going to fight me?"

"No," I tell her. "For the sake of everyone I named, I'm going to kill you."

"A bold claim," Sakuya says. "And what makes you think you'll be able to pull that off?"

"I've got one trump card," I tell her. "A trump card that will guarantee that I'll never lose against you."

It's a bluff. Only a half bluff though. Yukari once told us about what Yoko said about her friend. That nothing Sakuya's group did could ever do so much as scratch her. So if I assume that I'm the friend Yoko was talking about, then all I need to do is trust that I have something that will allow me to stop Sakuya.

"Oooh, scary," Sakuya says. "How utterly terrifying. I'm shaking, I really am. You are aware just what my ability is, correct? Do you even know how many magical girl abilities I have available to me? No matter what you throw at me I'll have twenty different ways to counter it. And you really think you can beat me? How about this, I snap my fingers and twenty different magical girls come down with the sole purpose of making you nothing more than a bloodstain on the wall. Think you can deal with those odds?"

"Yes, I can."

"I wonder where that confidence comes from?" Sakuya asks. "If we were to try to kill each other right now, can you guarantee that you would be able to kill me?"

Honestly? No, I don't think I can. Until I can figure out what Yoko meant, I don't have the means to do anything against Sakuya.

"Ah, don't say anything," Sakuya says. "Look, I don't want to have to fight you. You remind me way too much of Rem, and that makes this whole situation really awkward. If possible-"

*SLASH*

*CRASH*

"I'd just like this to end peacefully and quietly so"-

"Mom!" I yell out.

My mom was just walking in to bring some breakfast. That's all she was doing, but Sakuya still waved her hand, and a sharp gust of wind cut through the air and separated my mom's head from her shoulders.

"Huh? Oh, goddammit!" Sakuya curses. "I mentioned that bad reflex of mine, right? People walk in on me, I aim for the head. Really, I'm not even noticing it anymore and that's not a good thing. It's fine when one of my subordinates walks in on me talking because they're either fast enough to dodge or able to just put their head back on and keep on going."

I transform into my magical girl outfit and leaps at Sakuya. I ready my spear and try to stab right through Sakuya's face, but she deflects with her own spear.

"Okay, look, I'm sorry Scarlet, but I made a small mistake here," Sakuya tries apologizing. "I didn't mean to kill your mom, it was an accident, I have some bad habits I need to work through and-"

I swing at her neck with my spear, but she blocks with her spear.

"Scarlet, do you really want this to go this way?" she asks. "I'm sure you already now how this will end."

"Just shut up already!" I yell at her.

Sakuya sighs and gets out of her seat. There's a golden light as she transforms into her magical girl outfit. I swing my spear at her, but one of the blades floating near her hip rises up and the spear is stopped before it can even make contact. I swing again, but this time the spear is caught by a block of ice. I decide to forgo the spear and just try to punch Sakuya. My fist connects with Sakuya's face, and I manage to break her nose. She looks uninterested and the wound heals within a second.

"Do you have any idea how many healers I've absorbed?" Sakuya asks. "I've got like ten different healing magics working on me at any given moment. If you think you can end this fight by simply wounding me enough, I'm sorry. This doesn't work like that."

I swipe at her again, but she ducks underneath my swing, then retaliates with a swipe of her spear. It cuts clean through my leg and I fall to the ground. Sakuya stomps down on one of my wings and the branch like appendage snaps off. An indescribable pain courses through me and I just barely manage to bite back a shriek of agony.

"I suppose that answers that question from before," Sakuya says. She stomps down and breaks my other wing and I scream in pain. "For your sake, you'd be better off staying down."

Despite the horrible pain, and despite the fact that I'm missing a leg now, I still try and get back up. Deus slashes her spear across my back, cutting right through my scar and opening my back up. She then smacks me across the fact with the shaft of her spear, and I lose my balance and fall to the ground again.

"I said stay down," Sakuya tells me. "This probably won't kill you, but it will really hurt and with luck you'll be out of commission for a while. Just do me a favor and take a nap, okay Scarlet?"

Sakuya snaps her fingers and small spark appears. The spark floats down and eventually lands on me. My entire body is then completely coated in flames. I scream in pain again, as the flames eat away at my body.

"I'm sorry," Sakuya says. "I wish you a good day."

I hear footsteps leaving the room and reach out towards the doorway.

"Get… Back… here… Sakuya…"

The fire keeps burning and I'm starting to go numb. I can hardly even feel the fire anymore, and I can't move my body at all. My consciousness starts fading, and I fight to stay awake. I can't go down here, I still need to stop her. Then Miku, Inko, Ui, Yoko and Yuki won't have died for nothing. I start clawing my way to the door, but can't make it. Everything starts fading away.

***Scene Break***

I was woken up by a few rays of sunshine shining through the cracks in the not entirely drawn curtains. I slowly sat up, rubbed my eyes and looked around, examining the room in detail. I have no idea where I am at the moment. Not exactly the first time that's happened, so it's hard for me to think of "panic" as a viable response.

"Mrrgh," I moan as I slowly pull myself back together.

"S-Scarlet! You're finally waking up! No, don't sit up yet, you're still hurt! Wait, um… check for brain damage. How many fingers am I holding up? Wait, no, memory loss? That could be relevant with her. Quick, what's the date today? Wait, you wouldn't know that, you've been asleep for a while. Um…"

"Yukari?" I ask, slowly stirring awake. "What hap- ah!"

"I'm so happy that you're okay!" Yukari exclaims tearfully as she pulls me into a tight embrace. "I was so scared you were going to die and I'd be completely alone again! Don't scare me like that you idiot!"

"Owowowowowowow," I start saying. Hugs hurt. Everything hurts right now.

"Ah! Sorry, you need to lie down for a bit longer!" Yukari exclaims, putting her hands on my shoulders as gently as possible to push me back into a sleeping position. "Your body may not have fully adjusted yet. You've been sleeping in my bed, in case you were wondering. You've been out for about three days."

"What happened?" I ask. I have a murky idea, but I'd like details.

"I was on my way to your house to talk about what happened the night before when I smelled smoke," Yukari explains. "I got really scared and ran as fast as I could. When I got there your house was completely engulfed in flames. I was freaking out, worrying about you and all that, when I saw you passed out in front of your house. You were… Oh god, Scarlet, I thought you were dead. I was so scared that I had gotten everyone killed and… You should have seen yourself, I almost didn't recognize you. You were horribly burned down to bone in more than one large area, you were missing a leg, there was a huge gash running down your back and your wings were broken off and I didn't know what to do."

"… Wait, in front of the house?" I ask. "No, I was inside the house, how did I get out in front of it?"

"Um… How should I say this? I wasn't the first one to actually find you," Yukari begins another explanation. "Remember that night, Sanae and Momiji mentioned running into some pink haired magical girl?"

"I don't recall, I wasn't there at the time. What does she have to do with anything?" I ask.

"She was still in town that day, and was walking by your house when the fire started," Yukari tells me.

"Is that so?" I ask.

"So it is," Yukari confirms. "She ran in and found you burning, so she pulled you out of there as fast as she could. Luckily for you she had some healing magic. Not very potent, but she kept your body from completely breaking apart. When I got there she actually almost shot me with an arrow. She thought I was the guilty party and back to finish the job or something. I think me rushing to your body with tears in my eyes begging you to not die convinced her we're friends."

"Nah, that couldn't be it," I say. "You're far too threatening for that tactic to work."

"Heh," Yukari chuckles a little. "Anyway, when I told her I was a really good healer she allowed me to start fixing you up. She looked really pissed off when she left. She said something about hunting down whoever did this, but I was too focused on making sure you didn't die to really pay attention."

"And what about my mom and dad?" I ask the most important question.

"Th-they were still in the house?!" Yukari asks. "I didn't know. Oh my god, Scarlet I'm so sorry I didn't know I should have gone in there and gotten them out and-"

I interrupt her by placing one of my hands on her head.

"Don't blame yourself," I tell her. "I messed up. This is all my fault, no one else's."

"Scarlet, what happened?" Yukari asks. "… It was Deus, wasn't it?"

I nod in confirmation.

"She said she wanted to talk," I explain. "She said that was all she wanted to do. And it was, we talked a bit. Then the talk got far too out of hand, and a fight broke out. … I lost."

"Well I figured that much," Yukari says. "Scarlet I'm so sorry, I never should have tried to leave her group. I got you and everyone mixed up in all this and I'm so sorry."

"Don't blame yourself," I tell her again, a bit more forcefully this time. "All this falls on my shoulders as well, and I'll bear the responsibility. I wasn't there to save Yagami, I wasn't able to save Inko, or Ui, or my parents. There's a lot I have to answer for, and I will. Later, after we've dealt with Sakuya."

"Scarlet, _no_," Yukari tells me. "I'm not letting you go fight Deus. I've lost too many friends to her and that group. I don't want to lose you too. I'll handle this."

"You think you can fight her by yourself?" I ask. Yukari shakes her head.

"No, and I don't plan too," Yukari says. "I'm just going to turn myself in to her."

"Yukari-"

"Scarlet, I'm done," Yukari interrupts. "I'm done with all of this. I just want this whole situation to end. Too many people are dead now because of this mess that I started and I need to answer for it. I'll turn myself into Deus and she'll leave you alone and you won't have to worry about her anymore. Please. I can't lose you too."

"Yukari, this isn't as simple as turning yourself in," I tell her. "Not anymore. Or maybe it never was. It may have started as them just trying to get you back into the group, but it's escalated far beyond that. This isn't about just you, or just me, or even just Sakuya and the things she's done. It's about all three of us now, and I'd rather be killed than sit here and do nothing while you take the course of action that won't help anyone. It won't help you, it won't help me and it won't help Sakuya's group. We either take down that entire group, or we die trying. That's all there is too it any more. There's far too much at risk to let that group keep growing as much as it is."

"And what do you propose we do?!" Yukari yells at me. "What, do you think this is that simple? That you'll just stop a group that large? Scarlet, you nearly died, how can you even think you could do anything about her group?! Oh, let me guess, you know some random time traveler that can go back in time and make it so that none of this stupidity ever happened in the first place? Scarlet, just-"

Wait… Waitwaitwaitwaitwait.

"Yukari, say the last half of that sentence again."

"S-say what again?" I thought Yukari was getting all wound up, but it seems she wasn't expecting that request, and now her steam's all gone. "Um… 'go back in time and make it so that none of this stupidity happened in the first place'"

That's it, now think Scarlet. Think, think, think. … AH!

"THAT'S I-AH! Owowowow," I wince as I bolt into a sitting position. Apparently I'm still incredibly sore from being burned alive. "That's it!"

"What's it?" Yukari asks. "Scarlet, what are you talking about?"

A wide grin stretches across my face, and Yukari seems more confused than anything else. I start laughing. Oh my god, it was so simple! Right there in front of me the whole time! I figured it all out!

"I've got it all figured out!" I say excitedly. "Yukari, I've figured it all out!"

"That's great! … What have you figured out and why are you so happy?" Yukari asks. "I've never seen this much emotion from you, it's scaring me."

"Yukari, you still have Nina on standby, right?" I ask.

"I… I do. She's sleeping in the guest room. She helped me take care of you for a while, and she's really tired now. Why do you ask?"

"We need some information from her. Tomorrow we're raiding Sakuya's hideout," I tell her.

"Wh-what? Raiding?!" Yukari exclaims. "Scarlet, Deus just nearly killed you! You can't be serious!"

"The difference between that last encounter and this next one is like night and day," I tell her. "And it all comes down to one small little thing."

"What might that be?" Yukari asks hesitantly.

"I finally remembered what my magic is," I tell her. "Sakuya doesn't stand a chance."


	11. Chapter 11: Ready to get started?

**Author Notes:**

Sooooooo… Any questions? I mean, I'm kind of out of things to talk about here. Next chapter, which should be up at the same time as this one, is the final chapter. We'll talk more there. See you then!

**Chapter 11: "Ready to get started?"**

"Scarlet, are you sure about this?" Yukari asked me as we approached the safe house.

"Absolutely," I tell her. "This won't even be a challenge."

"I'd be more willing to believe that statement if you at least told me a bit more," Yukari says. "Okay, you've got super magic that'll beat Deus no problem. Could you at least tell me what it is?"

"Nope," I tell her. "It's a secret. Just trust me."

"If you say so," Yukari says. Before she can say more, her phone starts ringing. She brings the phone out of her pocket and holds it to her ear. "Hello? Scarlet, it's for you."

I grab the phone Yukari was offering me and start the conversation.

"Hello?" I ask.

_"You two getting ready to assault the base?"_ Nina asks from the other end.

"We are," I confirm.

_"Before you go, I have a question. Why are we talking on the phone when we could be using Kyubey to talk to each other telepathically?"_

"Yukari, that's a good question. Why are we using a phone instead of telepathy?" I ask her.

"I-It's safer!" Yukari insists. "If they have a telepath or something then they just eavesdrop and hear the entire conversation!"

_"They could do the same thing by just, you know, eavesdropping and listening in on the phone call,"_ Nina points out.

"She has a point," I say to Yukari.

"Whatever! Scarlet, ask her what she wants," Yukari says.

"Nina, how did you even get Yukari's number?" I ask instead.

_"Why wouldn't I have my girlfriend's number?"_ Nina asks.

"Yukari, you and Nina are dating?" I ask. "I'm happy for you, but this is hardly the time for that. Once we're done with Sakuya you two can have your honeymoon."

"We're not dating!" Yukari insists. "I don't even have any intention of dating anyone right now. I mean I'd consider dating yo- never mind! I gave Nina my phone number so she could contact us if there was anything important she needed to tell us, so tell her to relay her message or hang up already!"

_"Well, considering you two just kind of left when I told you where my ex-boss is hiding, I thought you might need some more information,"_ Nina says._ "It's a pretty simple affair. You'll find Deus in the center room, that's where her office is. Oh, there are some guards, by the way. Six magical girls total, three guarding the north entrance, the other three guarding the south entrance. I'd recommend going in through the south entrance, that one's guards aren't as competent as the north entrance."_

"Is that so?" I ask. "And what makes you say that?"

_"Well the North is guarded by Alice, Yami, and Marymary and you don't want to mess with them,"_ Nina says. _"Alice alone would be a pain with all her dolls, and Marymary's annoying to deal with, but Yami's the one you'd need to look out for. I heard you managed to catch her off guard and tear out her throat. Considering she usually manages to beat Sakuya whenever they would spar, that's pretty impressive."_

"Is that so? She can actually beat Sakuya? So much for being an invincible god girl," I say.

_"Sakuya wasn't using her magic and thus wasn't taking any of the fights completely seriously, but it's still impressive,"_ Nina says. _"As such, it'd be much better if you went for the south end. That one's guarded by three idiots. They're good at their job, but they're still idiots. As in, 'An orphanage is burning down, you give them a phone and explicit instructions to call emergency services and they hand you the phone and rush right in to save the orphans only to fall flat on their face and everyone dies.' Luckily it was just a rundown orphanage, so nothing of value was lost."_

"Understood," I tell her. "Go south, fight idiots. Hey, Nina."

_"Yes? Another question, I assume?"_

"Any particular reason you're being so cooperative?" I ask.

_"I mean, it's not like I'm pissed off beyond all belief that my ex-boss in all her infinite wisdom decided to abandon me. It'd simply be ludicrous to assume that I wouldn't be completely loyal to such a wonderful boss like that. I simply have nothing better to do today."_

"… I don't know. It's hard to tell but I _think_ you're being a little sarcastic there," I tell her.

_"Not particularly,"_ Nina says. _"Good luck against Sakuya. I'd say you need it, but you sounded confident enough when we talked earlier. See you later, Scarlet. Oh, and tell Yukari I said hello."_

"See you around Nina," I reply before ending the call and handing the phone back to Yukari. "Your girlfriend says hi."

"She's not my girlfriend," Yukari says, pocketing the phone. "We'd never be together. I'm straight."

"What's with the silence?" Yukari asks, sounding displeased.

"You're just going to let your silence serve as your answer?" Yukari asks, to which I don't say anything. "Idiot. I mean, okay, I may have had a bit of a crush of Yoko, but everyone has something like that, right?"

"And I mean sure, I'll admit I think you're really cute and I've found myself wanting to give you a hug on more than one occasion, but that's more because you're so doll-like than anything and-"

"I'm so sorry Yukari, I got distracted by a butterfly," I tell her. "Pretty little thing. First time I've seen one since I witched out, I think. What were you talking about?"

"… Nothing. Absolutely nothing," Yukari says.

"Is that so? Well then, ready to get started?" I ask.

"Let's go," Yukari says.

We transform into our magical girl outfits and head for the base. Alright, south end, right? Once me and Yukari reach the building in question we encountered the first guard. Long red hair, long green dress and a matching green beret. Also, she was completely asleep. Yep, she was sitting on a stool next to the gate and completely asleep. Me and Yukari glanced at each other, then back at the guard. I slowly poke her with my spear to see what happens.

"Mrghghhh," she mumbles. "No please, I can't eat any more."

"You haven't eaten anything yet," I tell her.

"Huh? Who's.. Ah! Intruders!"

The girl hops to her feet and strikes some kind of battle pose.

"I'm sorry, I can't allow you to enter… this… Wait a minute… Aren't you…"

"Pleasure to meet you, my name is Alessa," I tell her. "I've been going by Scarlet recently so if you could call me that, I'd be rather pleased."

"A-ah! Y-y-y-you're the one who tore Yami's throat out, aren't you?" She asks, her confidence wavering greatly.

"Yep. I did do that," I say. "I don't do things like that often, but it did happen recently."

"A-a-a-a-a-and you want to go in?" the guard asks.

"That's our plan," Yukari tells her.

"Y-Yukari as well?! Um… I can't let you… Uh… You aren't allowed…."

"May I ask your name?" I ask her.

"R-R-Rei," she tells me.

"Thank you," I tell her. "Rei, do you think you can take me and Yukari in a fight?"

"I-I-I-I have to," Rei tells me. "It's my job and if I don't do my job then I'll be punished."

I put a hand on her shoulder and she flinches and look absolutely terrified.

"Take a day off," I tell her. "You'll be out of a job soon anyway, so you might as well start the job hunt now."

"… You really think you can fight Boss?" Rei asks.

"I know I can kill her," I reply.

Rei seems surprised at my response. She thinks about it for a minute before nodding.

"Okay," she says. "Good luck Scarlet. Good luck Yukari."

"Thank you Rei," Yukari says. "Oh, tell Marymary I said hello."

"Will do," Rei says before running off.

"Marymary?" I ask.

"Members of the group are split into pockets of five," Yukari says. "Yuki, Yoko, me, Marisa and Rei formed a single unit. We're good friends."

"Oh, is that so?" I ask. "Well, we've still got to deal with green hair and sword and shield."

"Momiji and Sanae are part of Nina's unit, along with Yami and Alice. I've met Momiji and Sanae a month or two ago and chatted with them a bit, and I've heard of Yami and Alice. Momiji can manipulate earth, while Sanae can control wind. Alice controls her dolls, and I don't particularly know much about Yami. Other than that I don't know much about them," Yukari says. "We'll have to wing it."

"Works for me."

Me and Yukari walk through the gate and get ready for a fight. We didn't have to wait long, Momiji and Sanae were waiting for us.

"Had a feeling you'd be showing up," Momiji says.

"Well, that and Kyubey warned us that you'd be arriving today," Sanae tells us.

"Rat bastard," Yukari curses under her breath.

"Yukari, take green hair, I've got sword and shield," I say.

"Already discussing tactics?" Momiji asks. "The fight hasn't even started yet. Besides, do you think you could beat us before we could get a chance to call in everyone else for backup?"

"But Momiji, the other guards are busy dealing with that other intruder, aren't they?" Sanae asks.

"Shut up Sanae!" Momiji yells at her friend. "Bluffs don't work if they know we're bluffing!"

"O-oh! Right! Um… We could call Alice and Yami and Marymary any time we want, they're not busy dealing with that archer girl!" Sanae tells us.

"You heard her! Don't even think about fighting us!" Momiji says.

"… Nina was right, they are idiots," I tell Yukari.

"I'll take the green idiot," Yukari says. "Be careful Scarlet."

"I make no promises," I tell her.

We split up and start out fights. I immediately swing my spear at Momiji, and she blocks with her shield and tries to cut me with her sword. I manage to knock the blade off course with the end of my spear and swing at her again. We exchange blows, spear banging against shield, sword colliding with spear hilt.

"You're pretty good," Momiji tells me. "I don't meet many people on my level."

"That's because most people think beyond 'swing sharp stick around' when they fight," I tell her. "I'm not good, we both just suck at fighting."

"Sh-shut up!" Momiji says. "I'm really good at fighting!"

"No you're not."

"I am!"

"Am not."

"Am too!"

"Am not."

"S-stupid!" she yells at me. "S-stupid… Idiot… meany-face!"

"… Meany-face? I haven't heard that one before," I say.

Momiji blushes a vibrant red. She looks ready to start yelling at me again, but stops and thinks really hard about what she's going to say next.

"My apologies," she says, adopting the air of a calm, collected and mature adult. "I allowed myself too much emotion for a minute. Pardon me for the slip."

"… How old are you, anyway?" I ask her.

"Ten, why do you ask?"

"You're ten…" I put a hand on top of my head, move it to around where her head would come up too. "How."

"How what?" she asks.

"You're two years younger than me but so much taller. Teach me your secrets."

"Milk," Momiji says. "Drink lots of milk and you'll shoot up like a rocket. Milk is the answer to all of life's questions."

"Is that so?" I ask. "Does drinking milk also make you want to act super mature, because I don't know if I like that, it's kind of annoying."

"I-I'm not annoying!" Momiji says. "Wait, we're supposed to be fighting!"

"Aren't we already doing that?" I ask.

"I mean we are but… Come on! Normal fighting," Momiji says. "That okay?"

"That's acceptable."

***Scene Break***

"And then Alice killed all of them and turned them all into dolls," Sanae finishes her story.

"Harsh," Yukari notes. "They certainly deserved it, but still. Harsh."

"I certainly agree that they deserved it, but I wish she'd have a been a bit more gentle," Sanae says. "The conversion process is… unsettling, I'll say that. She always complains that it never worked out how she intended which makes me wonder just what she's trying to accomplish."

"Perhaps the doll thing isn't supposed to kill the person being turned into a doll?" Yukari suggests.

"No, she certainly wished to turned people into dolls," Sanae shoots the theory down. "At least, that's what she keeps telling me. She's an awful liar, so I'm pretty convinced she's telling the truth."

Despite the casual conversation, Yukari and Sanae were actually locked in a heated battle. Yukari was firing as many arrows at Sanae as she could, but Sanae was using her ability to control wind to divert the arrow's trajectory. The ability to have a pleasant conversation with your enemy was born out of tedium, since nearly everyone in Deus' group grew tired of constant fighting eventually. The fact that Sanae and Yukari once had tea together didn't hurt their ability to converse as friends.

"That reminds me! I never told you how I felt about that tea place we went to," Yukari tells Sanae before firing a volley of arrows.

"Ah! You're right!" Sanae says as she waves her stick and create a gust of wind to block the arrows. "What did you think about it? I personally thought it was a bit dry, certainly not one of the best tea places I've been to."

"I agree, it wasn't all that spectacular," Yukari agrees. "I mean, I'm not the person to ask about stuff like that, I've always thought coffee was better than tea."

"Excuse me?" Sanae asks, her voice adopting a cold tone. "Say that to my face."

"Say what to your face?" Yukari asks. "The thing about coffee being objectively better than tea?"

*SMACK*

The smack was the sound of Sanae slapping Yukari for her blasphemous accusations. Yukari put a hand to her cheek in shock and looks at the green haired girl.

"How dare you even suggest that that brown sludge can even compare to the holiest of nectars!" Sanae exclaims.

"Oh, you're one of those people," Yukari says.

"One of what people?" Sanae asks.

"A heathen, that's what you are," Yukari says. "A dirty heathen who clearly has no idea what she's talking about. How on earth can you claim that hot leaf juice is in anyway better than the perfectly ground concoction that is coffee?"

"Oh, you're talking about that brown bean trash?" Sanae asks. "Because that's what it is. Just dirty, brown bean liquid that's only good for giving you a high when you're too tired to actually do anything productive."

"Oh, and that's so much worse than that stupid drink that makes you just collapse from how painfully dull it is?" Yukari asks.

"… I had thought we could put this Deus business to the side and become comrades," Sanae says, readying a veritable typhoon to launch at Yukari. "It appears that will never be the case."

"Never," Yukari confirms, notching an arrow and pouring everything she has into it. "We stand on opposite sides of the world, and our paths shall never cross."

"Those on Team Tea-"

"And those of the Coffee Confederation-"

""Shall never get along!"" both girls declare before launching everything they have at their opponent.

***Scene Break***

I flip backwards to avoid a large boulder that was about to land where I was previously standing. Another large slab is launched at me and I cut it in half with my spear and the two halves fly off to the side, missing me completely.

"Earth manipulation really is such a neat power. Good at parties?"

"Very useful," Momiji confirms. "Though I much prefer fighting honestly and fairly. Since you don't seem to have any magical ability I feel bad for unbalancing the fight in my favor with it."

"Trust me, you're not unbalancing anything," I tell her. "I'm just choosing to save my magic for Sakuya. Using it here would just be kind of mean to you. Well honestly it'll be a little unfair to Sakuya when I use it there, but at that point all bets are off."

"You're that tough?" Momiji asks.

"I don't mean to hype it up because it's very situational power, but it is a pretty useful ability," I confirm.

"Well, broken ability or not, the point still stands," Momiji says. "I feel bad using magic on someone who isn't doing the same. I guess it doesn't matter."

Having finished her little spiel, Momiji readies herself for battle and leaps at me. She attempts to bring her sword down on me, but I block with my spear. I smack her with the end of my spear and she takes a step back. I go on the offensive, but she blocks every one of my strikes with her shield. Oh shoot, I just remembered. Sanae mentioned there's a second intruder. That person's probably fighting the other three guards by herself. Even if we assume she's tough enough to beat them all, if she goes up against Sakuya she's just going to lose. I need to finish this quickly so she doesn't have to deal with that.

"First, I'm going to apologize in advance," I say to Momiji. "I need to end this now."

"Excuse me?" Momiji asks. "You think I'm going to let you just walk through on to Boss?"

"No, and that's why I apologized," I tell her.

I throw my spear at Momiji. It flies through the air point first towards her. She raises her shield and blocks the spear, and the spear flies up into the air. While Momiji is hiding behind her shield I rush towards her. I leap towards her and land on her shield, which I use to propel myself upwards. I grab my spear out of the air and throw it downwards. The spear flies downwards and cuts through Momiji's shield arm. Her scream of pain is cut off by me landing on her chest, knocking her to the ground. Momiji attempts to swing her sword at me, but I'm a bit too fast for her. I grab my spear out of the ground, knock her sword out of her hand and then stab my spear through her neck. Despite the near decapitation, Momiji is still alive. Her soul gem appears to be located on her left hand which is useful for her considering that's her shield hand, making it very hard to hit that spot normally. Still, she was just pierced through the neck, she won't be going anywhere soon.

"Okay, now to help Yukari," I say as I hop off of Momiji.

"No need," the girl in questions says, walking over to me. I see Sanae's body lying in the dirt a fair bit behind Yukari, covered in arrows. "Don't worry, the tea heathen is still alive. Maybe when she wakes up she'll feel the need for a pick-me-up from a good cup of coffee."

"… I feel like I missed something important," I say.

"You really didn't," Yukari assure me. "Now come on, Deus is waiting."

Yukari starts marching off but before she can go anywhere I grab her arm.

"Where do you think you're going?" I ask.

"We're going to fight Deus," Yukari says. "That was the plan."

"Noooooo no no no," I tell her. "Your part in the plan is currently two-fold. First, I want you to heal Sanae and Momiji. They're kind of beat up and I'd like it if we could confirm they won't be dying of anything nasty. Second, you're going over to the north side and seeing what's going on with that other intruder. If she's still fighting everyone else, help her. If she's done, clean up the mess. By that I mean, you know, heal everyone who needs it."

"So we heal everyone up and then fight Deus?" Yukari asks. "That's an awful idea, she could slip by us at any point."

"Yukari, you're missing the point," I tell her. "We will not be fighting Sakuya. I will take her on and you help outside."

"Absolutely not!" Yukari says. "Scarlet, I'm not letting you fight her on your own! You know what she can do, you've seen her in action! Fighting her on your own is suicide and I'm not letting any of my friends die ever again. I absolutely refuse to let your overconfidence get the better of you, we've let that happen enough times already! You remember what she did to you at your house, do you really want a repeat of that?"

"The difference is, now I know what my magic is," I tell her. "Like I said, there's no way Sakuya can beat me."

"Look, you're saying that but that doesn't help me because I don't know what you're magic is!" Yukari protests. "Deus is a monster! Do you really think she wouldn't be able to rule this stupid group if she wasn't? What ability could you possibly have that could ever make it an even playing field?"

"Even with my ability it's not an even playing field," I admit. "The field's tipped completely in my favor. But that's not important. Yukari, what I'm asking you to do is heal these two and the other guards if they need it. I can't do that. What if while I'm fighting Sakuya one of them uses too much magic healing themselves and witches out and throws everything into a tizzy? That'd be a problem."

"Scarlet, I-"

"Yukari, all I'm asking is that you trust me, okay? Can I ask you to do this? For me, if nothing else?" I ask.

"… If it had been anyone else asking I'd have said no," Yukari says. "I don't know, maybe your confidence is having an effect on me. If you're so confident that you'll be fine, I suppose I have no choice but to let you have a shot at her. Just please promise that if things don't work out you'll leave the fight and find me, okay?"

"I promise that I'll come back to you in one piece," I tell her.

"Thank you Scarlet," Yukari says with a smile. "That makes me feel a lot better. Now go stop Deus, once and for all."

"I intend to," I tell her.

I bid Yukari one last farewell and head into the building. It's just an empty warehouse of sorts so it shouldn't be too hard to find her in here. Considering there's only one room other than the main chamber, I think I've found her. I walk up to the door and open it up.

"Come on, jump, JUMP! Shoot shoot shoot! No, dodge the tornados! Over, under, left. Come on! Wait, wrong way! Goddammit! What the hell Air Man, what's with these stupid unrecognizable patterns?!"

The girl I had been hunting for was currently splayed out on a couch playing some old video game. She was wearing a wrinkled, sloppy-looking tank top and shorts, her hair was in a complete mess and she just didn't seem to care much at all about her appearance. She seemed somewhat at ease, as if she hadn't even realized I'd arrived yet.

"Sakuya," I call out to her.

"Yeah, yeah, intruders at both gates, I already heard," she says dismissively. "First day off I've gotten since I started this stupid group and the I get a veritable neapolitan of trouble breaking down my door. Totally my luck, isn't it? What a pain in the neck."

"Sakuya," I call out to her again, a bit more forcibly.

"… Wait a minute."

Sakuya pauses her game and slowly sits up and looks at me.

"Shit, it's you!" Sakuya says as she hops off of her couch. She starts smoothing out her clothes, making sure they're on properly and making her hair look as pretty as she can on such short notice. She gives up and just transforms into her magical girl outfit, instantly making herself look as presentable as can be.

"Okay, first thing's first, I'm sorry about your parents, that was a screw up on my part. I needed you to stop needing to fight me, and I've set a few people on fire to get that effect before. The problem was they've never been in a house when I lit them on fire and I forgot that fire spreads quickly and… Well, I didn't mean to burn down your house, kill your parents and nearly kill you. ... Not necessarily in that order, considering your mom, but I'm still really sorry. That was all a really big accident. That's probably a pretty hollow apology, considering there's no way you'd ever accept an apology like that from someone like me, but I figured I should get that out of the way. Right, so, why are you here, is this some kind of revenge thing? That totally doesn't seem in character for you. Like, you hardly seem the kind to get bent out of shape to the point of rushing headfirst to death. Well, you guys kind of did that a few nights ago when all that crazy stuff happened. I don't really think I have as good a grasp on your character as I thought I did."

"I'm not here for revenge," I assure her. "This isn't me throwing away my life for something as petty as that. This isn't about me feeling infuriated beyond all belief by your actions. This isn't a negotiation, a suggestion, a deal, an entreaty, an agreement, some compromise, a capitulation or anything of the sort."

"Please, enlighten me then," Sakuya says, slowly starting to slip back into her "Deus" mannerisms. "You've told me much about what this isn't, but not much about what it is. What is this visit, if not any of the previous things you've stricken off the list?"

"I suppose you could say it's my victory march," I reply.

"Victory march?" Sakuya seems surprised. "A little early to be claiming victory, wouldn't you say?"

"Not at all," I tell her. "Remember our last meeting?"

"I snapped your wings off, cut you open, set you on fire and left you to die," Sakuya says. "Still sorry about that, by the way. As such I'm very curious why you think another fight would be anything different."

"Think back to a bit before our fight. Remember what I said?"

"I assume you're talking about your trump card?" Sakuya asks. "Like I said back then, not matter what your little trick is, I've got twenty different ways of countering it. I have so many magical girl abilities I'm starting to forget some of them. I should really start writing them down somewhere. The point is, nothing you have up your sleeves could possibly counter every ability I have. It's not a boast or anything, I simply have far too many abilities for any magical girl to hope to win."

"Pride comes before the fall," I tell her.

"And doesn't that phrase sound familiar," Sakuya says. "It's not pride, it's fact. I don't have any delusions and think myself the most powerful creature on Earth. I'm not. I'm just a fourteen year old with a heavy burden on her shoulders and what is essentially a really neat swiss army knife. Nothing more than the big bad boss running this stupid group. And what are you doing?"

"What do you mean?"

"Exactly what I said," Sakuya tells me. "What are you doing? You plan on killing me, stopping this group, blah blah blah. What happens then? You just go on your merry way, maybe grab some ice cream in celebration? Perhaps go to the arcade, play a few games to blow off some steam after such a heated battle, ignoring the thousands and thousands of magical girls you've doomed? … I was going to ramble about how me, Sakuya and Yuki worked tirelessly to make sure every magical girl got what they needed and how now they'd all be doomed to grief seed deficiency, but I don't need to. Why bother? Yuki's dead, I fired Sakuya, and I sure as hell won't be able to handle all that work myself. I suppose I could hire a few more right hands, but by the time they're anywhere near as competent as Yuki or Nina, the group will have shriveled away onto nothingness. Either you kill me and the group dies instantly, or I kill you and the group dies slowly. I lose either way. Isn't that a cheerful thought? I suppose since it no longer matters, I might as well end this now. Come on, Scarlet. I won't bother holding back, so I certainly hope your ability is as strong as you say it is."

"It's pretty potent," I tell her. "I mean, I'm still figuring out the specifics behind it, but just the basics should be fine."

… I just realized something. Yeah, my magic's pretty cool, but it has zero offensive potential. I've got no offensive edge, and Sakuya's got many different healing abilities working on her at once. … Well, I've got a few ideas about what to do, I'll figure out the specifics later. I have plenty of time after all, not like she'll be able to touch me.

I rush towards Sakuya and swing my spear. A column of ice catches my spear, and a large gust of wind pushes me back to my starting spot.

"I didn't say 'go,'" Sakuya says. She fishes around in the piles of trash and useless stuff on the floor. She grabs a bag and pulls a grief seed out. She looks at it and then tosses it to me. "Figure I'd make this fair. I just cleaned my soul gem a bit before you arrived, and considering magic can take a lot out of a girl, I figured I'd be a good sport."

I look at the seed and slip it into my pocket.

"I'll save it for when I decide to get serious," I tell her. "No point in wasting such a powerful resource right away."

"Fair enough," Sakuya says. "Now. Let's begin."

We both leap towards each other, spears at the ready. Our blades clash for a bit, when Sakuya swings her hand and creates a blade of fire. I leap back and barely manage to dodge the fiery strike. Sakuya dismisses the fire blade and creates icicles in the air behind her. They all start firing on me and I focus on dodging. The last time I tried taking rapid fire projectiles head on was when I fought Nina. That didn't end well.

I leap backwards, throw myself to the side and focus on making sure none of the projectiles find their mark. Sakuya snaps her fingers and lightening bolts join the fray, zapping areas I had intended to move towards. This stupid girl. She's trying to keep as much space between us as possible. Spears have good range, but not good enough that I can attack her while focusing on dodging icicles and lightning. I focus intently on the pattern the attacks are making. A way through!

I worm my way through the icicles, narrowly duck under a lightning bolt and manage to work through the storm of projectiles to Sakuya. The girl smiles and readies her spear. She meets my blows with her own, effortlessly blocking each of my strikes. She has a whole bunch of magical girl abilities, could super strength and super speed be some of those abilities? That'd make it pretty easy to keep up with an opponent. What a cheater.

I keep on the offensive, swing my spear as fast as I can. Sakuya continues intercepting my blows, even taking a minute to cover her mouth to hide a yawn as she blocks an overhead strike.

"Time's up! Back to your area," Sakuya says.

Winds far stronger than I felt earlier slam me into the wall on the other side of the room.

"You probably wouldn't remember anyway, but do you play many action games, Scarlet?" Sakuya asks. "The bosses in those games all work the same way. They have an attack pattern that you have to figure out before you can do any damage to them. Once you figure it out, you get a bit of time to smack your opponent around before the game pushes you back and throws a new pattern at you. Unfortunately for you, you didn't do any damage to the boss, and I'm not programmed to simply spam the same pattern until you get enough hits in."

"Is that so?" I ask. "So this is a game, and I win when I figure out the pattern?"

"Well, no, you still need to actually find my weak point," Sakuya says. "Remember my healing? Unless you manage to find my soul gem you'll never be able to actually finish me off."

What a pain. Before I can voice my complaint, Sakuya starts up a new pattern. Small bits of metal tear themselves off of the walls and start rotating around Sakuya. The metal orbs that now surround her start moving towards me in an almost unrecognizable pattern. I try to focus on dodging and find another way to get through. I dodge left, but an orb slams into my side, than another into my neck. I'm knocked off balance, but manage to steady myself. A few more orbs move towards me erratically, but I knock them away with my spear. I see a path that I can squeeze through to get to Sakuya and take a step forward. Once I try to move again, I find that my body has suddenly become far too heavy to move. It's taking everything I have to not fall to the floor. Wait, she did something like this before, didn't she? Some kind of gravity manipulation, I guess. Wait, can I just not move now? How's that fair?

Since I'm rooted in place, a bunch of metallic orbs start banging into me. Geez, these are made of scrap metal, why do they feel like they're 70 kilograms?

"Pattern two: Metal manipulation and gravity fields," Sakuya beings her explanation as the metallic orbs continue banging into me. "Incredibly dense orbs made of every metal I could find. Careful, they can break bone if you're not careful!"

The odd angle my arm was just knocked into thanks you for your warning.

"Gravity manipulation, me making your body weigh so much that you dodging is unthinkable!" Sakuya proudly proclaims. "Oh, that's not completely fair, I suppose. Here, a little gift."

Sakuya snaps her fingers and the weight keeping me down lessens significantly. It's still hard to move, but at least I can move know, as opposed to being completely inert.

"Games are no fun when they're broken like that, so the gravity fields are only in certain spots. Can you navigate the treacherous metallic clusters while simultaneously watching for gravi-"

I interrupt her by using a get-out-of-jail-free card, by tossing my spear at her while she was talking. The spear goes right through her eye and passes clean through her head, embedding itself in the wall behind her. Sakuya screams in pain. She falls to her knees and covers the hole in her head with her hands. The orbs fall to the ground, and I can move again. She must have lost her concentration. To be fair, most people would.

"Tch. I missed," I lament. I was aiming for her neck. I dunno, it's an instinct I retained from when I was a witch or something. Always attack the neck.

"You damn little-" Sakuya stops herself before she gets too carried away. She stands back up, clears her throat and ignores the hole in her head, letting her healing abilities start patching it back up. "Okay, you don't seem to like this game all that much. Fair enough, who wants to play a game you can only lose? I had thought pattern two was a little tough and I was going to make pattern three a bit of a breather level, but now that you pissed me **RIGHT THE FUCK OFF WITH THAT BULLSHIT**, I see I should try something a little more fun for me. Pattern three: Go ahead and die!"

The metallics orbs start floating again and spinning around at a much higher speed. I get ready to start avoiding them, but the gravity spot is back in full force and I can't move. Luckily the orbs only fly near me. A few pass with only a few millimeters to spare, but none of the orbs seem to actually want to hit me. The temperature in the room suddenly drops and I notice the hurricane of icicles forming around me. The wind starts kicking up as well.

"Hey Scarlet, remember those bosses I mentioned?" Sakuya asks. "Well sometimes when you take too long on a boss, the game decides to just reset the encounter. The boss will start spamming instakill attacks, or become invincible, or gain untold strength and suddenly one shot your party when it was previously doing barely any damage. It's the game's way of saying that this farce has gone on long enough, no need to continue. Obviously we haven't been fighting long enough for me to really feel that way, but when you launch a spear through my head as casually as you did, you can probably understand why I'd be so gosh darn upset. And so, pattern three. I throw everything I can at you and laugh while you die horrible and brutally. Next time, don't try to cheese the boss with such an annoying tactic. Oh, and do try to hold out as long as possible, it'll make it more cathartic for me."

Suddenly the projectiles change course. The orbs start smashing into me, the icicles start piercing my skin, gusts of wind cut into me, lightning starts frying me wherever it strikes. A few other abilities I hadn't seen before also make an appearance. What appears to be hard light forms another set of projectiles to pierce me with. Various weapons such as swords, spears and axes appear out of thin air and start slashing at me. What appear to be shadows start clawing at me, tearing into my body. I'm losing a lot of blood.

Injuries:

Numerous punctures from ice and hard light.  
Number lacerations from the various bladed weapons.  
Claw marks everywhere thanks to the shadows.  
Beatings from 70 kilogram metallic balls.

Gee, I wonder why I'm bleeding, I've barely taken any damage from this fight! Come on Sakuya, don't you have a million other things to throw at me?

"Hmmm, anything else, or is this excessive enough?" Sakuya wonders. "I'm running out of places to actually hit her. Geez, where's your soul gem anyway? If I could just grab that then I could do whatever I wanted to your body without having to worry about killing you. Oh, you've had enough, I'll just go for the surefire end."

Sakuya snaps her fingers, and everything stops. The ice stops shooting, the light and weapons disappear, the shadows retreat and the orbs fall to the ground. Unfortunately for me, she also increased the strength of the gravity well. That or I finally ran out of strength, because I hit the ground hard and can't find the strength to get back up.

"Sheesh, you look awful," Sakuya notes. "Not quite as bad as when we found you during Walpurgisnacht, but still pretty bad. It's been fun, Scarlet. If there's an afterlife for girls like us, tell Remilia I said hello."

The weight that's keeping me from moving increases, and keeps increasing. I can feel my body starting to flatten under the pressure being exerted on it. So this is her surefire kill. If you don't know where the soul gem is, just crush everything. There's no way to miss. I remain silent as the force of gravity crushes me. I couldn't do anything even if I tried, I lost way too much blood for my body to function properly, my limbs are beaten beyond repair from the orbs, my entire body is charred to a crisp. All I can do is lie here and wait for the force of gravity to crush me. It didn't take long, maybe a few seconds before the gravity had increased to far beyond what even a magical girl could withstand. My body was crushed like a grape, and my soul gem along with it.

"Just kidding!"

"Ex-excuse me?" Sakuya exclaims in disbelief as she sees me standing up.

"What, after all my boasting you thought I would just roll over and die so easily?" I ask. "Sakuya, I'm disappointed in you. I thought Remi would have smarter friends than that."

"Shut up! You were just dead and bleeding on the ground!" Sakuya yells at me.

"No I wasn't," I tell her.

"Y-yes you were!" Sakuya insists. "I had beaten you to a bloody pulp, you were bleeding out and I crushed you flat! What are you doing standing up, looking perfectly fine?!"

I put a finger to my cheek and pretend to think.

"Sorry Sakuya, I don't remember anything like that happening," I tell her with a bright smile. "Are you perhaps confused? Stress can get to people sometimes."

Sakuya waves her hand and several beams of light tear my body to shreds. That's a lie. Sakuya seems stunned, but recovers and has her icicles pierce my body until I'm nothing more than a pincushion. Sorry, that's another lie. Sakuya raises her hand and brings forth a giant column of fire to bake me alive. Wow, I'm really having trouble telling the truth today.

"What the heck is going on, why won't you stay dead!" Sakuya yells at me.

"Well, I've already cheated death twice, why not a few more?" I ask, still smiling. "Ah! Sorry, that's a statement that can be misunderstood. Don't worry Sakuya, my magic has nothing to do with bringing me back to life! I've done that more than enough, wouldn't you think?"

"… Who are you supposed to be?" Sakuya asks.

"What do you mean?" I ask, tilting my head to the side. "I haven't changed at all since the fight began, what makes you think I'm anyone different? Are you sick? That's not good, taking on the person who's going to kill you when you're not in perfect health."

"What's with you?" Sakuya rephrases her question. "You're acting odd. You seem…"

"Oh, my apologies, I didn't introduce myself properly when we first met, did I?" I ask. "Ooooh, I'm so sorry! That's my fault. I can be a real idiot sometimes, you'll have to forgive me. It's a pleasure to meet you Sakuya, my name is Alessa, and this is the part where I kill you."

"Excuse me?!" Sakuya asks.

"Ready to get started? I'll warn you, I'm not going to hold back anymore!" I tell her, smiling as brightly as I can.


	12. Chapter 12: Take my hand

**Author Notes:**

Whoo! Hell of a ride, but here we are! Chapter twelve, the "final" chapter! Man, has it been fun writing this story. I imagine we've got some things to talk about here.

Scarlet's magical girl ability: The ability to negate history, making it so that any event simply never happened. Yes, it is as stupidly broken as it sounds. In fact, the reason why I gave Sakuya such a stupidly powerful ability was so that she could maybe have a chance of going up against Scarlet. Let's face it, no matter what your ability is, you can't really fight against someone who can make it so that the entire battle simply didn't happen, that's just not fair. Scarlet's ability was one of the first things I came up with for her character, and has shown up a few other times when she used it on instinct. Like when Scarlet made it so that the thug back in chapter 1 didn't shoot her, or in chapter 3 when Yuki shot a hole in Scarlet's shoulder with a icicle and the wound just disappeared. Or when Yuki cut off Scarlet's hand and it suddenly reappeared. Scarlet has been using her ability the entire time, she just never had the conscious control necessary to actually, say, make it so that no one died. Yeah, the limits I put on the power were partly to keep some sense of drama intact, (what's the point of the story if only events Scarlet wants to happen, happen) but also because at some point the ability needs a natural cap. If it's too strong then wouldn't it just drain her soul gem nearly instantly?

Since we're still on the topic of Scarlet, I had so much fun writing her here because I got to write her as Alessa instead of Scarlet and that's a ton of fun to do. We saw quite a bit of Alessa back in the flashback chapter, but that was it, and we never got Alessa the magical girl. To be able to write her as Alessa instead of Scarlet was really fun for me, even if it was for just a moment.

A moment near the… middle, I suppose, of the chapter, with Yukari telling Scarlet that she's leaving the city. That was always in the plan, but I kept tweaking it up until this chapter was finished. The idea was always the same, but for a while it was just Yukari going "I'm leaving, see ya Scarly." Problems with that: Firstly, where the hell is Yukari going? That was fixed by giving her a goal of minimizing the fallout of Sakuya's death. That's where the idea of Nina going with her came from. While Yukari was a part of Sakuya's group, she was never a very high ranking member, so she wouldn't know many of the other groups, so Nina would go with her to help out with that. Second problem was that Yukari would just up and leave Scarlet on her own. I don't know if you noticed, I might not have written it very well, but Scarlet isn't in a very good place right now. Her family and friends (with the exception of Yukari) are dead, and she just found out that she could have prevented all of that easily, and she just killed her best friend's sister for really no reason and potentially doomed a lot of people. It would be kind of a dick move for Yukari to just go "see ya" and leave her like that, hence Yukari inviting her along. This created the third problem of "Wait, if Scarlet goes then the city wouldn't have any magical girls and would probably be overrun by witches" which was solved by Scarlet choosing to stay in the city.

Speaking of Scarlet not being in a good place and staying in the city, she met Yui Nekoyama. A young kid who Scarlet has… well, Scarlet basically adopted her. Now neither of them are alone, and Scarlet finally gets to be the big sister instead of the little sister. Also, the name "Yui Nekoyama" being similar to "Ui Inugami" is half coincidence. Her first name was Yui and the fact that that sounds like Ui was complete accident, but then Nekoyama (as in cat) and Inugami (as in dog) was too good an opportunity to pass up. Since it was a pretty small part we didn't get a particularly good grasp of what her character might be. Maybe we can do that later.

Speaking of Yui and her little thing at the end of the chapter, that originally wasn't part of this chapter. It was always part of the story, but the chapter originally ended with Scarlet crying, and everything after the one week time skip was going to be the epilogue. I felt really bad about ending a chapter with our main character sobbing her eyes out, so I felt like throwing her a bit of a bone. Same thing for last chapter, sort of. It originally ended with Scarlet being crushed and her soul gem being shatter and everything after Scarlet says "Just kidding" was going to be the start of this chapter, but I think it works a bit better now.

Anyway, I think that's about it. The story's over now, thanks for reading everyone! I hope to see you all, really soon! This is The Uncreative, signing off.

P.S. The whole "useless" thing that was here and in the first chapter? … I really like Jojo's Bizarre Adventure. Anyway, now I'm done.

**Chapter 12: "Take my hand."**

"Come on Sakuya, at least try and hit me!" I taunt her as lightning narrowly misses me. "What's the fun in a final boss that can't hit anything?"

"Just stay still!" Sakuya yells as she unloads everything she can at me. Lightning fries the air, hard light tears through the room, shadows claw at me and icy breezes blow through the room. I dodge every single blast that I can, ducking and weaving through the projectiles. Considering how dense the air was, there was simply no way for anyone to dodge all of them. Well, I say that but I seemed to be having an alright time avoiding her almighty peashooter. "What is happening?! I keep hitting you again and again but you just won't stay dead! What, is life lagging out and not registering all the times I've killed you?"

*ZAP*

"Like there!" Sakuya says. "I just saw your body get completely charred by lightning, and now you're fine!"

"Noooooo you didn't," I taunt in a sing song voice. "At least, I don't seem to remember something like that happening. Are you sure you've done anything?"

"Shut up!" Sakuya yells at me.

"Okay," I say, still smiling. "But first, you like games, don't you? How about we play another one right now?"

"What kind of game?" Sakuya asks warily.

"We're going to keep fighting, and I want you to guess what my magical girl ability is," I tell her. "I haven't worked out what you'll get if you guess right, but I'm sure I can think of something. Oh, I almost forgot! I have to make if at least somewhat fair, and tell you my 'weak spot' so to say."

I tap a finger against my chest, above where my heart would be.

"Here you go," I say. "My soul gem's a little hard to notice, since it's under my outfit as opposed to being on top of it. All you have to do to kill me is score a good blow through my heart. Seem good? Just find a way to worm past my defenses and hit my weak spot. Want to play?"

"Oh I get it," Sakuya says. "You're taking my game metaphors and trying to turn them around, make yourself the final boss. Okay, I'll play."

"Great!" I say. "You get three guesses. Hmmm, make it two guess. If you can't get it right after two guesses, you aren't going to get the third one. I suppose if you get both guesses wrong I'll just tell you. Ready?"

"Ready," Sakuya says right before she unleashes a hailstorm of ice and lightning. I dodge and duck between the projectiles and attempt to find a pocket of safety.

"I appreciate you only using a few abilities instead of all of them," I tell Sakuya. "That's awfully ice of you."

"That almost caused me physical pain," Sakuya informs me.

"Not a fan of puns?" I ask. "Perhaps you simply need to lighten up a little?"

"… My disdain for you is slowly growing personal," Sakuya says.

"Oh, don't be like that!" I say, offering her a smile. "Anyway, think you have enough information to make a guess, or do you want to hold off a bit?"

"Hmm… Probability manipulation?" Sakuya offers. "You simply put the odds in your favor, allowing you to happen into extremely lucky situations?"

"Bzzt!" I announce. "Incorrect guess! Want to go again, or shall we resume the fighting?"

"What if I simply asked you to tell me?" Sakuya asks. "Would you give me and answer?"

"Hmmmmmmm nope!" I tell her cheerfully. "Where's the fun in a game that just gives you what you want? You have to work for it!"

"I suppose," Sakuya admits. "Honestly though this farce is annoying and I wish it to end."

"Boo," I say. "Who knew Remi hung around with such a buzzkill."

"I'm the boss of the magical girl yakuza, I don't get payed to have fun," Sakuya says. "I don't get payed at all, but that doesn't really matter. Nonetheless, I'll humor you and use my second guess. Perhaps it's illusion magic? You actually are simply messing with my senses and either making me only think that I'm hitting you when I'm actually hitting thin air?"

"Interesting guess, really interesting," I say. "Too bad it's completely wrooooooong. Oh, shoot!"

"What's with you?" Sakuya asks.

"I just realized this is horribly unfair!" I explain. "It must be really hard for you to guess what my magical girl ability is when you don't even know what I wished for! Okay, I'll fix that. Don't think about the consequences of the wish, those got cancelled out by someone else's wish. Just focus on the wish itself. When I contracted to become a magical girl I wished that the incubators never came to Earth in the first place."

"… Ah!" Sakuya has an epiphany. "You can't be suggesting-"

"Hey, you got it!" I say cheerfully. "You're completely right. My ability as a magical girl is to make it so that any event in history never happened!"

"T-that's insane!" Sakuya says. "You can't honestly expect me to believe you can change history on a whim, can you?"

"Weeeeeeeeell not exactly," I say. "There's two particular hangups. First: The event I'm negating can't be any more than five minutes in length. I can't just snap my fingers and say 'oh, this entire day didn't happen' and suddenly have the day just vanish in a puff of smoke. Second, and this is the important one: the event I'm negating has to have happened in the last twenty four hours."

"And why is that important?" Sakuya asks. "I highly doubt that you'll be caught in battle lasting more than a day."

"No no no, you're missing the big thing," I say. "Think for a second. If I could negate any moment in history more or less by thinking about it, why would I have any issues with you? I could just snap my fingers and Yoko, Yagami, Inko, Ui and my parents would be alive. Unfortunately for you, I can't do that. It's been too long since those events happened. However, anything you throw at me, from lightning to ice to shadows, is happening just right now. That's child's play for me to negate. There really isn't any way for you to beat me. So what do you say?"

I fish into my pocket and bring out the grief seed Sakuya gave me. I press it to my chest, where my soul gem is, and cleanse my soul gem. Turns out using a lot of magic in a short amount of time can really corrupt your gem quickly. The seed has another use, I think, so I shove it back in my pocket.

"Ready to start the actual fight?" I ask Sakuya with a smile.

Sakuya seems… not nervous, more like she's confused. I suppose she's still trying to wrap her head around the fact that all recent history is little more than my plaything. Well, she'll figure out exactly what fighting me entails pretty quickly. And I plan on ending this as quickly as possible, so she won't have to wait long.

I take the initiative and charge for Sakuya. She swings her spear at me and I vault over her head and land behind her. Sakuya turns around and swings her spear at me, but I negate my vaulting putting me back where I was, though Sakuya is now facing away from me. I slash her across the back and she creates a large wind to blow me away. I attempt to jump right back into the fray, but shadows grab onto my ankles and keep me from moving.

"All right, I'll be the first to admit," Sakuya begins. "I've got a lot of abilities that are just slight variations on others, and a lot that are useless in a battle. I don't need five different ways to shoot lightning, and what good is speaking to animals or being able to breathe underwater in a fight to the death? However, do not for a second think that that means I don't have many different ways of making sure you aren't a problem anymore."

"Wait, were you just using double talk when talking about your abilities?" I ask. "Over a hundred different abilities, but that really only means like ten different abilities. Wow, that's disappointing."

"First, shadow control," Sakuya says, gesturing to the shadows grasping my legs. "Second and third, lightning and ice."

A storm cloud forms over my head and starts sparking. Little snowflakes start raining down on my head.

"Fourth and fifth, fire and control of light."

A circle of fire lines the ground around me, and beams of light start shooting near me, just barely grazing my skin. Sakuya must be a killer at parties.

"Six, seventh and eighth, weapon creation, metal manipulation and telekinesis."

Three swords, two axes and about six orbs of metal are formed and start encircling me, blades constantly pointed at me. I cover my mouth to be polite and hide the fact that I'm yawning. Geez Sakuya, get to the point.

"Ninth, Tenth and eleventh, enhanced strength, enhanced speed and self-healing. All those are just a fraction of all the abilities I have. Admittedly many of the abilities I have are similar, but that only serves to strengthen their potency."

"… And?" I ask. "That was a pretty demonstration and everything, I'm sure you're a riot at the group's christmas parties, but what's the point? I just told you that I can make anything not happen. Why would you think that you can do anything to actually stop me?"

"Because you're bluffing," Sakuya says. "There's no way such an ability could ever actually exist. I was right before, you're just using some weird illusion thing to try and confuse me. An ability as stupid as negation of history simply can't exist. And what's with those completely arbitrary restrictions? Five minutes? Twenty four hours? You're clearly making things up."

"It's more of a self-imposed restriction than anything," I explain. "I can mess with stuff beyond the twenty four hour limit, but it puts way too much of a strain on my soul gem. Two days is my absolute limit. Same for the only five minute events being negotiable. If I really push it than I could perhaps remove a ten or fifteen minute event from history, but I would need a grief seed immediately."

"Of course, of course," Sakuya says. "Well, keep up the act, I've already called your bluff. Also I appreciate you telling me where your soul gem is so I know where to aim."

"Aww, you're not going to play fair and tell me where your soul gem is?" I ask. "You're just going to take my gracious gift and run? You're not a very fun person to play games with."

"Sadly this is hardly a game," Sakuya says. "This is me choosing to kill you."

"Well, it doesn't matter," I reply. "I've already destroyed your soul gem about seven times by now."

"Wh-what?" Sakuya asks.

"Yeah! I found your soul gem, broke it, then negated that event so I could keep fighting because I didn't think you were properly punished. This will be the eighth time I've killed you, and I'm still not entirely certain that's enough."

Sakuya seems unnerved and starts rubbing the back of her neck. I grin, but she doesn't seem to notice. Thank you Sakuya, for being nervous enough to tell me where your soul is.

"R-regardless," Sakuya works to regain her composure. "That hardly matters. I have you completely at my mercy. The second I do so much as blink you have all these different magical abilities tearing into you."

"And the second I blink, none of that ever happened," I tell her. "So I don't quite see-"

*SLASH*  
*BURN*  
*CLANG*  
*BLAST*

"What you're hoping to accomplish," I finish.

"Wh… What the… What the hell is with you?!" Sakuya asks. "I just saw you… I just saw you get torn to pieces! There was blood and organs and… you were in pieces. What the hell are you?!"

"I'm Scarlet, I'm a magical girl," I tell her. "Or would you rather, I'm Alessa, Remilia's little sister. Or perhaps Tepes, the witch who nearly ended the world? Which one best answers your question?"

Sakuya simply looks at me like I'm a monster, which I am, admittedly. I dismiss my spear and start walking towards Sakuya. She burns me alive, my skin becomes charred and my blood starts evaporating in my veins. I negate the event, and the flames disappear, along with my wounds. Shards of ice tear my body to shreds, exposing bone and poking holes through my body. I decide that's not something I like, and the ice storm stops and my holes are sewn up. Creatures of shadow rise up and begin clawing at me. One cuts through my ankles, another shoves a hand through my stomach, and a third tears out my throat. The event is once again negated, and my health is filled back up to full. I take another step towards Sakuya, and she takes a step back. She steels her resolve and moves forward, swinging her spear. It cuts clean through my neck, decapitating me. Sakuya abuses her super speed and cleanly slices off my limbs as well before moving to stab my body through the heart. I negate this entire process, placing myself in front of Sakuya, right as she prepares her stab. Her spear moves forward and knock it off course with my hand. I step forward and attempt to punch Sakuya in the face as hard as I can. She raises both of her swords in an "x" shape to block the punch, but my fist breaks right both swords and connects with her face. Sakuya retaliates by igniting her fist and attempting to hit me with the flaming punch, but I grab her fist before it can hit me.

"How utterly useless," I tell her.

Sakuya lights her spear up with lightning and attempts to stab at me once again. I swing my hand and it collides with the spear's hilt. I grab the hilt with my other hand and tear the spear free from her grasp. I toss the spear away and grab hold of her head and shoulder. I bite down into her neck and begin feasting. Sakuya screams in pain, but remains calm enough to attempt retaliation. Shadows gather around her hand and form claws. She attempts to swing at me, but I grab her hand, stop the swing and continue feasting. Sakuya keeps struggling, attempting to knock me off of her, but I keep my teeth at her neck. Once I've had my fill I let go of Sakuya. The bite wound is already healing, but Sakuya is still reeling. She takes an unsteady step back. How useless. I step forward and punch Sakuya hard. I punch her again, and again and again, hitting a little harder and a litter faster each time.

"USELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSELESSU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Sakuya's body is continually beaten and bloodied by my blows, but she constantly heals herself thanks to her various abilities. Thanks to that I was able to hurt her as much as I want without worrying about her expiring a little too early. I punch Sakuya a few more times, and then stop, letting Sakuya fall to her knees before falling flat on her face. I reach down and grab Sakuya's soul gem from its place on the back of her neck. I face away from Sakuya and hold her soul gem up towards the light, observing it carefully. It's not colored like Ui's or Yagami's, the glass is completely clear. It'd be rather pretty if it weren't for all the corruption swirling around inside of it. I imagine she would have used a lot of magic in that fight.

"So, that's it?" Sakuya asks, attempting to pull herself up. "Time for me to die? Time for me to pay for all the sins I've committed?"

"Well?" Sakuya asks, shakily getting to her feet. She's not wounded, her magic made sure of that, but I imagine she's still a little shaken up from how much damage she's taken. "Go on! Crush it! Kill me already, make me pay! Damn thousands of innocent magical girls to die, or become a witch or worse!"

"… How useless," I mutter.

"What?" Sakuya asks.

"It's funny," I say. "Even with all the things you've done, all the lives you've taken including my friends and family, even with all the sins that only happened because of the group you created-"

Sakuya leaps towards me, spear drawn and a myriad of magical girl abilities firing off behind her. I toss her soul gem into the air, wait for it to fall in the right spot and then spin around and kick Sakuya in the face. Sakuya's soul gem is crushed between my foot and her head. Glass flies everywhere as the soul gem shatters, and the force of my kick knocks Sakuya on her back. Her spear and magical girl outfit disappear, leaving her in her casual clothes. All the magical attacks she was preparing simply disappear, leaving me alone with nothing but silence and Sakuya's corpse as company.

"Even with everything that's happened, I still can't bring myself to hate you," I tell her.

I transform back into my casual clothes and walk away. I exit the room and immediately fall to my knees. I work on keeping my thoughts in order and shift into a more comfortable sitting position. I turn my ring into its gem form and look at it. God, I'm close to witching out. I used a lot of magic in that fight. Its hard to keep my hands from shaking, but I'm still able to reach into my pocket and pull out the grief seed Sakuya gave me earlier. I put seed to gem and let out a sigh of relief as my gem is cleansed. The seed's beyond any usefulness now, so I toss it into some corner. I'm supposed to give overused seeds to Kyubey, but I really don't care at the moment. If he wants it so badly he'll pick it up.

I'm exhausted. The adrenaline's wearing off, I suppose. Plus it took way too much conscious effort to act like my old self. It shouldn't be as hard to act like myself as it was, but there it is. I feel completely drained right now.

"Scarlet!"

I look up and see Yukari running towards me. She rushes towards me and as soon as she gets close enough she gets on her knees so she can properly hug me.

"Thank goodness," Yukari says. "You're okay. Does that mean-"

"Sakuya's dead," I tell her. "It's all over now. Everything's fine now."

"Are you fine though?" Yukari asks, looking me in the eye. "I know you won, but do you need any healing? Deus is really tough so-"

"I'm perfectly fine," I tell her. "I'm really lucky too. By all rights I shouldn't have won that fight. If I had been any other magical girl she would have killed me. Good thing I was a pretty good counter to her magic. Ah, that's not important, we can talk about that later. Are you okay Yukari? What happened with everyone else?"

"The pink archer was still fighting Yami and Alice when I got there," Yukari says. "She beat Marymary fine, but was having trouble with those two so I had to help her. Partyway into the fight, Alice apparently caught wind of something interesting, because she said the fight was pointless and left. Yami ran off right after since she didn't feel like fighting a losing battle."

"So where is the pink girl now?" I ask.

"She's working on healing Marymary," she says. "She's got some healing abilities, so she's making sure Marymary is at 100 percent while I came by to make sure you were okay."

"And she certainly appears to be okay," Kyubey says as it walks into the room. "How interesting. I hadn't expected you to survive fighting Sakuya, much less actually defeat her."

"What, did I ruin some grand plan of yours?" I ask.

"Not at all," Kyubey tells me. "We incubators didn't care which side won, so we stayed out of the conflict. We simply took interest in the battle between the anomalous magical girl and the most powerful magical girl in Japan. And what do you think you should do now?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Yukari asks.

"Sakuya is dead, her group is disbanded, and Alessa has avenged her friends and family," Kyubey begins. "And because of that, many magical girls are doomed to have a very short career."

"Sakuya talked a bit about that," I reply. "She said that without her the group would fall apart and thousands of magical girls would die."

"I do hope you don't think she was lying," Kyubey says. "She's never been one to lie. For every incident her magical girls cause that results in people dead, they also save a number of lives that more than equals the people they've killed. Now without structure many of the magical girls in the group will fight amongst each other for grief seeds or power. Many won't get what they need and will inevitably become witches. Thanks to your actions, much of Japan's populace may have been doomed."

"It doesn't sound convincing when you say 'may have,'" I tell it.

"True," Kyubey concedes. "Honestly I can't predict what will happen. Perhaps nothing will happen, all arms of the group will operate as if nothing happened and life will go on. It is highly unlikely, but possible. In any case, this situation has resolved itself. Until we meet again, Alessa, Yukari."

Having said its piece, Kyubey turns and walks away, pausing to pick up the grief seed I tossed earlier before leaving me and Yukari alone.

"Scarlet do you… do you feel like we did the right thing?" Yukari asks. "Killing Deus and all that. Do you feel like that was the right choice?"

"I don't really feel anything right now," I tell her. "I just feel kind of empty right now. Yukari, what exactly did I accomplish?"

"I don't know," she tells me. "I don't have those kinds of answers."

"Is that so…" I mutter.

"Hey Scarlet… This may not be the best time, but there is something I've been meaning to talk to you about," Yukari says. "It's about Deus' group."

"Oh? What is it?" I ask.

"It's kind of related to what Kyubey was just talking about," Yukari says. "See, while you were recovering at my house I talked with Nina a bit about what would happen if Deus died. About how the structure of the group would collapse, everyone would start fighting, blah blah blah. I was thinking… I kind of want to stop that before any of it happened."

"Is that so? How do you plan on doing that?" I ask.

"I was going to leave this city with Nina," Yukari tells me. "She helped run the group, she should know about most, if not all of the various groups stationed around Japan. I was going to travel with her, meet up with the group and try to diffuse any incidents before they happen. Now that Deus is dead and future deaths are now a very real possibility, I feel like that's really something we need to do."

"Really? You're going to just start walking around Japan, see if anyone needs help?" I ask.

"No, no, we'd have specific targets and destinations," Yukari says. "Nina said she already had a preliminary list of all the cities and places most likely to have serious problems. We'd go and make sure everyone has what they need so that no one else has to die as a result of what happened here."

"I see," I respond. "Good luck with that."

"Scarlet, I wanted you to come with us," Yukari says. "I don't want to leave you alone, and… well, I thought it would be best if we stuck together."

I choose silence as my response.

"Just think about it, okay?" Yukari asks. "… Hey Scarlet. Are you okay?"

"What's with that?" I ask.

"You seem really down," Yukari explains. "Are you feeling okay? … Oh, it's about… well, everyone, isn't it? Our friends, your family, and everyone else, isn't it?"

"No, why would I be sad about that?" I ask. "The past is long gone, I couldn't do anything about it then, and I can't do anything about it now. No point in feeling bad about it."

"Liar," Yukari calls my bluff.

I look down at the floor and don't respond.

"Do you want a little time to yourself?" Yukari asks. "Some time to sort your thoughts out?"

I nod slowly. Yukari gets up and walks out of the room, leaving me by myself. Here I am, a girl with no memories, and the power the change anything except for the things I actually want to. My parents aren't coming back. Remilia's not coming back. Ui, Yagami, Inko, Yoko, Yuki, they're never coming back.

I held my head in my hands and just… started crying. I just sat there and kept sobbing.

***One week later***

Yukari's gone. She and Sakuya left a few days ago to make sure the fallout of Sakuya's death didn't cause too much trouble for everyone else, just like she said they would. I doubt I'll be seeing them anytime soon. I'm still here, cleaning up witches in this city because someone has too. I haven't seen the pink girl, so she's probably off in some other city, doing her own thing. As such, I'm the only magical girl in the city, so I'm the only one who can keep witches in check. I have no other social commitments or competition so it's a pretty easy job to throw myself into.

I had just finished up a witch fight, and breathed a sigh as the labyrinth dissolved. It wasn't a difficult fight, they never are. When you have an ability like mine, witch fights are trivial. I had picked up the grief seed that the witch had dropped and was preparing to leave when I heard a sound. I turned and saw a small girl, lying on her side, curled in a ball on the ground. She had short, dirty blonde hair, and she was small and extremely thin. I'd say she was maybe nine years old at most. It sounded like she was crying. Was she trapped in the labyrinth? … Haaaaaaaah. Another sigh. I've been doing that a lot recently.

"Hey, are you okay?" I ask, as I walked over to her. She didn't seem to hear me, so I kneeled down and tapped her on the shoulder.

"Aah!" The girl exclaims. She rolls over and tries scooting away from me. She briefly pauses and starts examining the alleyway. "Everything's… normal? The monster is gone?"

"The monster's gone," I confirm.

"Did y-you stop it?" she asks.

"I did," I tell her. "Were you stuck in there?"

The girl nods.

"I got s-stuck in there, and there were lots of monsters and the big m-monster and I thought I was going to die," she tells me.

"You don't need to worry about that anymore, I took care the monster," I tell her. "You can go home now."

I turn around and start walking away, only to be stopped by the girl grabbing onto my sleeve.

"Miss, where should I go?" she asks me.

"I just told you, go home," I repeat. "I'm sure your parents are worried about you if you're out here like this."

"Mama and Papa are d-dead," the girl tells me.

"What?"

"One of those m-monsters killed them," she explains. "I found this weird black thing so I took it home. It turned into a monster and ate my parents. That was a week ago. I got away from that monster, but then that other monster found me, and that's where I was for the past two days."

"Is that so?" I ask.

I think about what the girl just told me. This poor girl has had the misfortune of being trapped in a witch's labyrinth, and she saw her parents get eaten? I can't even begin to imagine what that must be like. I think a little more, and come to a conclusion.

"Hey, what's your name?" I ask her.

"Y-Yui," she tells me. "Yui Nekoyama."

"Nice to meet you, Yui. My name's Scarlet," I tell her.

"S-S-Scarlet?" Yui asks. "I-It's a pleasure to meet you."

I stand up and start walking away. I don't hear anything, so I turn and look back to see Yui still sitting on the floor, not having moved an inch.

"Well?" I ask.

"W-well what?" Yui asks right back.

"Come along now," I tell her. "You look hungry. Let's go get something good to eat."

"R-r-r-really?" Yui asks.

"Really, now come here," I say, holding my hand out towards her. "Take my hand. I don't want you getting lost."

Yui seems uncertain, but eventually she stands up and walks over to me on shaky legs. She hesitates, but eventually grabs my hand with hers. She looks up to me, looking a little uncertain. I simply smile down at her and start walking. She keeps pace with me, and I'm pretty sure she's smiling as well.

"Okay, it's your choice. Where do you want to go?" I ask her.


	13. Chapter 13: Time for one more?

**Author Notes:**

And so ends Part 1 of Scarlet's Bizarre Adventures, for real this time. We did have that one last end to tie up after all. Yes, she was exactly who you thought she was… Ssssssssort of. A lot of stuff has happened since you might have last seen her, and she's not the same character she was back then. But that's stuff we get into in part 2. Speaking of which, the first chapter of Part 2: Diamond Arrow will be up next Tuesday. For reals, not delays on that one. See you then, and happy holidays.

**Epilogue: "Time for one more?"**

***One month later***

"That one! Let's play that one next!" Yui exclaims as she pulls my arm. "C'mon Scarlet! Look at this game!"

"Okay, okay, calm down Yui," I tell her. "Don't pull my arm off. We're not on a time limit, we can enjoy the games as much as we want."

I hadn't been able to spend as much time with Yui as I would have liked this past week. There were a lot more witches than usual. As such, I thought I'd take her somewhere to try and make up for it, so I took her to the arcade that Remi used to take me when I was younger. Yui's face lit up the second we stepped in and she started bouncing from arcade game to arcade game. She was currently pulling me towards a dancing game.

"C'mon M- Scarlet! We can play this one together!" Yui says excitedly. "Let's go, I'll beat you so bad that you'll have to call me teacher!"

"Is that so? I suppose we'll have to see about that," I tell her.

I pumped a few coins into the machine and Yui picked a song. Considering she doesn't have a ton of experience, we set it to a somewhat manageable difficulty level. After a few minutes, the song ended and Yui was left breathing heavily.

"Not… Not… fair…" Yui pants. "You're a… A magical girl and I'm just a malnourished little girl."

"You had an awful diet for a week at most," I tell her. "You're pretty healthy now."

"One more!" Yui declares.

"One more!" Yui declares after she lost again.

"O-One more, I got you this time!" Yui exclaims.

"One last time!" Yui says after her tenth straight loss. "I-I'm starting to get the hang of it, I got you now!"

"Perhaps it'd be best if we stop," I say. "I don't want you collapsing form exhaustion because you're so stubborn.

"Awwww," Yui pouts. "I had you this time. I would have won."

Yui hops off her section of the dancing game, and I get ready to follow her when I hear the sound of money being put in the game. The person who put the money in was a girl, perhaps a year or two older than me. She had bright pink hair tied in twin tail (it looked so good on her) and was wearing an unzipped brown jacket with a pink shirt under it, as well as jean shorts with black stockings. She looked at me and smiled.

"Time for one more?" she asks.

"Excuse me?" I ask in return.

"One more game," she explains. "Would it be too much to ask for one?"

"Well I was just about to leave and-"

"Do it Ma- I mean Scarlet!" Yui says excitedly. "You shouldn't have any trouble beating her! You're unstoppable at this game!"

"This is the only time you've ever seen me play this game, how would you know if I'm any good at it?" I ask. "I beat you, but you could just be kind of bad at it."

"I know because I have faith in you," Yui says. "I know that you'll never lose at anything!"

"Is that so? Fine, fine, one game can't hurt," I concede.

"Thank you very much," the pink haired girl says. I put a few coins in for myself and let the girl pick the song. She picks some upbeat idol song, and sets the difficulty to the highest level. Oh, an expert? This could be fun. The song starts, and we focus solely on the game.

"Come on Scarlet, you can do it!" Yui cheers me on.

At the end of the song, both me and the pink girl were left gasping for air. That song was no joke. Who would have thought the pop song would be as nearly impossible as that was? Despite the difficulty I managed to pretty soundly beat the pink girl. Yui cheers and gives me a hug, and the pink girl smiles.

"Ah, I should have known I'd lose," she says. "I was never good at these."

"Do you play them often?" I ask. "Practice makes perfect and all that."

"Not me, but I had a friend who spent a lot of time in arcades," she says. "I'd go with her and play occasionally, but she'd always beat me."

"Is that so?" I ask. "Well, it's been fun, but we should go. It's nearing the little one's lunch time."

"It's not that late," Yui asserts. "And I'm not little!"

"I know a pretty good café around here," the pink girl says. "How about I treat you? You did win the game, I feel like it wouldn't be fair if I just left it at that."

"Miss, games don't work like that," Yui says. "You don't play games to get anything from anyone, you play them for fun."

"That's true," pink girl says with a smile. "Still, it wouldn't feel right if I didn't get you two something."

"Saying no to free food is hard," I admit.

"I know but…" Yui doesn't seem convinced. "I don't want to be a burden on someone else."

"It wouldn't be a burden at all," pink girl insists.

Me and Yui finally relent, deciding that there's no reason not to agree to her proposal, and the pink twin tails lead us to a nearby café. I think I've passed by this place a few times. It just opened up I think. The three of us get a table and place our orders. I wasn't too peckish, so I just ordered an iced tea. Yui ordered a ham sandwich with milk and a side of vegetables (she thinks they'll help her grow super quickly). Pink twintails ordered some cream stew and a cup of tea. We didn't talk much while we were waiting for our food, it was mostly Yui asking me about all the things they had on the menu. Since I'm still working on remembering a lot of things I forgot, I wasn't able to help that much and I wound up forwarding Yui's questions to the pink girl. Eventually our orders came in and we ate in relative silence. Talking during a meal is rude, you know?

"Thank you for the meal," Yui said once she finished her food. After finishing the sentence she yawned.

"Nap time?" I ask her.

"I'm not a child," Yui insists. "I don't need to sleep after a good meal."

"I don't know, you did play a lot at the arcade," I tell her. "Maybe a nap wouldn't be a bad idea."

"I'm not tired," she insists. The fact that she just yawned again kind of betrays her words.

Considering how stubborn Yui can be about some stuff, I break out my secret weapon. I put my hand on her head and start stroking her hair a bit. Almost like she's a cat she closes her eyes and starts leaning into my palm. It wasn't long before she had completely fallen asleep. I let her lean up against my shoulder so she didn't fall out of her chair. The pink girl was trying to keep herself from laughing.

"That's adorable," she says. "Does stroking her hair really make her go to sleep?"

"It relaxes her," I reply. "She likes taking a nap after lunch time, but she's too stubborn to admit it. Rubbing her head just gets her to drop her guard enough to let herself take that nap. Sometimes I have to sing a lullaby as well, but usually I just stroke her hair for a minute or so and she falls asleep."

"Is she your sister?" the pink girl asks. "You seem to know her well."

"No, we're not related," I tell her. "About a month ago her parents died, so now I'm taking care of her. I couldn't just leave her alone."

"That's awfully kind of you," the pink girl says. "It can't be easy to take care of a child and fight witches at the same time."

"Not especially hard. I sometimes wish I had more time to spend with her, but she doesn't mind," I reply. "She knows what I do and why it's important."

"You don't seem surprised that I knew you were a magical girl," the pink girl says.

"Why should I? It's kind of obvious," I say, holding up my left hand. "The ring, remember? It's how I know you're also a magical girl."

"Guilty as charged," the pink girl admits.

"So what are you doing here?" I ask. "Attempting to discuss some magical girl business with me? Perhaps warn me of an impending territory dispute? I'll have you know I'm not the only magical girl here at the moment. I got a cell phone last week, so I can call up Patchy and time I want and have her help me."

"Patchy?" the pink girl asks.

"A friend of mine," I tell her. "She's a magical girl who arrived in this city a little over a week ago."

"No, I kind of figured that, but Patchy? Is that really her name?"

"It's short for Patchwork," I explain. "She has an odd fashion sense. She looks really patched together, hence 'Patchwork' and the slightly shorter 'Patchy.' She's a tough magical girl, we could easily fight off a magical girl invasion."

"I-I'm not invading!" the pink girl insists. "I'm just here because I was in the neighborhood. I had to deal with some serious stuff here last month, so I had this idea in my head that this is a pretty nice city to rest in for a few days."

"Last month?" Hmmm. Pink twintails suddenly sounds a lot more familiar. "You don't happen to use a bow, do you?"

"I do," the girl confirms. "Why do you ask?"

"Oh," I say. "I need to thank you."

"Thank me? Why?" The pink girl asks.

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think we've met before," I tell her. "Well, met in the loosest definition of the word. Do you remember last month? There was a burning house, you pulled someone out of it?"

"O-oh! That was you?" the pink girl asks. "I didn't even recognize you! I'm so sorry, I went in to try and get your parents, but the fire spread too quickly and I couldn't find them and-"

"I don't want an apology," I interrupt. "You saved me, so I thanked you. That's all that needed to be in that conversation. I truly am thankful. I don't know what would have happened if you hadn't helped me."

"Don't say that, I didn't do anything," the pink girl says. "I could barely save you, I couldn't even save your parents. I'm not worth thanking. Wait, if that was you, than the other girl was your friend, right? Brown hair, pink sweater?"

"Yukari? Yes, she's a friend," I say. "You saw her again, right?"

"Right, she helped me fight the sword girl and the girl with the puppets," the pink girl confirms. "So that means you were the one who took care of the boss of that awful magical girl group?"

"I am. Why, were you hoping to stop her?" I ask.

"I was hoping to do something," the pink girl admits. "I heard all sorts of awful stories about her group and I was really hoping I could convince her to fix her group. Have it do what any magical girl group should do and help people out, not hurt them."

"Wouldn't that have been a nice ending," I say. "Maybe you could have pulled off something by talking to her. I certainly couldn't. At least her group isn't a problem anymore."

"I suppose," the pink girl mutters. "I wish there was another way it could have happened though."

"So do I," I say. "Unfortunately we don't always get the endings we want."

"No, we don't," the girl says sadly. Sounds like she's had her own share of bad events. I suppose it comes with the job. "… Hey, can I ask you something?"

"Go ahead."

"There's a town nearby, a smaller place called Morioh," the girl says. "I heard that there's a magical girl there who's abusing her powers and causing all sorts of trouble. I was going to stop by and see if I could convince her to stop. Would it be too much to ask if you could come help me?"

"Why ask me for help?" I ask. "Don't you have any friends you can call up and ask for help?"

"No, I don't," the girl says, shaking her head from side to side. "Not anymore, at least. I just thought that we kind of indirectly worked together a month ago, right? You seem nice enough, I just thought that it would be nice to have someone to actually work with again."

"Can't stand the thought of being alone for any longer?" I ask her. The girl doesn't reply. "Yui would have to come with us, I'm not leaving her alone."

"I wouldn't dream of separating you two," the pink girl assures me.

"What if Patchy needs help?" I ask. "Say she starts having trouble with witches. What would I do then?"

"Believe in your friends," the pink girls tells me. "You said she's tough, right? Do you believe she could protect this city on her own? If not, then please, forget about everything I'm saying. Your home and friends should always take priority."

"… I suppose that's why I can agree to help you," I say.

"Really?!" the pink girl says, getting excited. She catches herself before she gets too happy and clears her throat. "Wait, what do you mean by that?"

"You saved my life, we danced together, and you bought me and Yui lunch. I think you qualify as a friend," I say. "I'm sure Patchy can keep this place safe on her own, and even if she can't, she'll call me. She's smart, she knows better than to tackle something she can't handle on her own. There shouldn't be any problems with me going with you to solve whatever that problem in Morioh is."

"Thank you," the pink girl says. "I really appreciate your help. You have no idea how much it means to me. Ah! I'm so sorry, I never got your name. Would it be too much to ask the name of my new friend?"

"I'm Scarlet," I introduce myself. "Just Scarlet, no family name. The little one is Yui Nekoyama. And you are?"

"My name is Madoka Kaname," she says with a smile. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Scarlet. I look forward to working with you."

**Part 1: Scarlet Wind**

**END**


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